A Fragment of the Past
by JAYSEN
Summary: Ever wanted to meet an ancestor of yours? Well, Naruto gets that chance and it changes his life forever. Starts at beginning of series, so canon up to that point. Will be some OOC and Naru/Hina pairing, possibly others.
1. Chapter 1

_'Sup? JAYSEN here, with my newest story! I know that some of you might flame me about using my Ichigo O.C. again, but in my defense, the versatility of him is too much to be ignored. This one will be somewhat angsty, with LOTS of OOC from certain charachters. One word of caution for any Sas-gay lovers out there, he will be bashed. If you don't like it, don't read my story. You won't be breaking my heart, trust me. Enough of my mindless rambling, ON WITH THE SHOW!!!_

_**KONOHA FORESTS APRIL 12TH 2305 HRS**_

A young boy could be seen racing as fast as his legs could carry him through the forests that bordered the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha. This boy in particular had a few uniques features to him, such as his bright orange jumpsuit, sun-colored blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, very unique whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks, and was carrying a rather large scroll on his back. As he stopped in a clearing, his mind wandered back to the events that led to him being there in the first place, which happened earlier that day...

_**FLASHBACK : 8 HOURS AGO AT KONOHA NINJA ACADEMY**_

_Naruto sat alone and dejected on a swing in the courtyard of the Academy. He had just failed the graduation exam for the third time, and had to sit and watch his classmates celebrate with their families. Some of the parents noticed him looking at them and began to comment._

_"Good thing that little beast failed. What were they thinking, letting HIM into the Academy?"_

_"I know! Why didn't the Sandaime just kill that...thing...when he had the chance?"_

_Naruto had heard enough. He angrily marched straight back to the classroom to collect what little he had when he was stopped by Mizuki. Mizuki told Naruto of a secret way to become a Genin : Steal the Forbidden Scroll in the Hokage's office and bring to him without getting caught._

_Naruto jumped at the opportunity and left for his apartment to get ready for his supposed exam. What he failed to notice, was the cruel smirk on Mizuki's face as he left._

_**FLASHBACK END**_

He shook himself out of those thoughts as he set to work on learning the first jutsu on the scroll while he waited.

In a nearby part of the forest, Iruka bounded toward Naruto's chakra signature in a real hurry. '_Dammit, Naruto! Why did you do this?!'_He wondered. After a few more minutes, he came across the clearing Naruto was sitting in. After confronting him, Naruto told him about what Mizuki told him to do in order to become a Genin.

Mizuki chose that moment to show himself. Once he was sure that his true intentions were found out, he began to berate Naruto and he skewed off on a tangent about the Kyuubi no Kitsune. During his rant, he broke one of the most severe laws of the village, the law concerning the Kyuubi and it's vessel. The punishment for breaking the law was death on site. He told Naruto that he WAS the Kyuubi's vessel and therefore the Kyuubi itself.

"Naruto!! Don't listen to him!" Iruka shouted. With that, Iruka and Mizuki began to fight over the scroll. Iruka had Naruto high-tail it back to the village with the scroll, but Mizuki threw one of his giant shuriken at him to kill him. Iruka lept in front of the projectile aqnd took the blow for him.

"Naruto...You're not...the Kyuubi. I know you well...enough for that." The scarred Chunnin began to tell him, but the silver-haired traitor closed in to finish him off. With a sudden burst of speed, Naruto intercepted him with a fierce kick to his jaw, sending him carreening back into a tree. Mizuki looked up to see Naruto, glareing at him with an almost demonic intensity.

"If you touch Iruka-sensei, I'll **KILL YOU!!!**" Naruto roared in an unearthly tone.

Mizuki at first began to chuckle, then laugh maniacally. "You?! Kill ME?! You pathetic little demon, I'll kill you in one shot!!"

Naruto didn't waste any time using the new jutsu he learned from the Forbidden Scroll, as he easily filled the forest clearing with hundreds of Kage Bunshin, all of them glaring at him. Mizuki stared at the orange army in fear and shock.

"What's wrong, Teme?!?! Weren't you going to kill me?!?" They all shouted in unison. "If you won't fight, then I will!!!" The Naruto-legion bellowed as they swooped down upon the terrified traitor and beat the ever loving shit out of him, releasing 12 years of pent up frustration and anger.

After Naruto finished up with the traitor, Iruka called him over. "Naruto, close you eyes for a moment." Naruto complied. "Okay. Now open them."

Naruto felt a weight on his forehead and felt it. He now had on a Konoha headband!

"Congradulations, Naruto. You've earned it." He told him as the pair made their way back to Hokage Tower to de-brief the Hokage.

The pair had failed to notice the presence of a fourth person, who had witnessed the entire affair from the edge of the clearing, hiding in a nearby tree. The pale eyes of the girl in question were glistening in the moonlight. Not because of the unique nature of her eyes, but because they were wet with tears, tears shed for the one she cared for above all else.

_'What have we done? He should have been seen as a hero for what he has been doing throughout his life, not condemned and hated. Wait...did my father have a hand in what happened to him?'_

_**HOKAGE TOWER 0106 HRS**_

Iruka and Naruto made their way back to Hokage tower and made their de-brief Sarutobi. Naruto was not only granted the rank of Genin, but also credited with a B-Rank mission for capturing a traitor. However, Naruto was now aware of the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed within him and he was rather upset that something this critical was kept from him.

"What the hell?! Why didn't you tell me, old man?! This stupid Fox was sealed in ME, dammit!! Was I too stupid or somthing?! Didn't you trust me? Or were you just like the others, viewing me as a monster?! ANSWER ME!!!" He roared, tears beginning to leak out of his eyes. He felt betrayed by one of the only people he trusted and felt safe around.

Sarutobi never felt his age this badly since the Yondaime died and he had to come back out of retirement. "Naruto...I didn't tell you because I wanted to protect you and wanted you to lead a normal life. The Yondaime wanted you to be seen as a hero...but..."

"Well, we all know how THAT turned out, don't we?!"

"Naruto, please...Try to understand. After you were born and the Kyuubi was sealed into you, the people of the village, both civilian and shinobi alike were angry and upset that they lost their loved ones and their beloved leader all in the same night. Many called for your death, and still do. That night I made a law, that no one was to ever speak of the demon or of it's jailor. This was done in order to protect you and hopefully help you make some friends, but.."

"But they got their kids to hate me, just like them, right?! Fat lot of good that law did! First, the orphanage kicked me to the curb at four, FOUR years old! After living on the streets for a year, you FINALLY found me! Then, I was shoved into that crap shack that gets looted and/or trashed every birthday or whenever they were in the mood!! Was all of that done to protect me, too?!" Naruto cried out, his tears now running as freely as his rage and sorrow.

As the small blonde's rage came to its zenith, a blinding white light washed over the tower from the skies above. All of the office's occupants, both seen and unseen, raced to the roof to see what was happening. As they hit the rooftop, a beam of light shot down before them and hit the tower roof with explosive force, leaving a man-sized crater in its wake, with a person laying in the middle of it with a sword in his hand.

As the small crowd drew closer, they noticed that this mysterious person had several severe injuries and was barely breathing. The man was young, easily in his early twenties, tall with bright blonde hair. He attempted to stand, but collapsed in a bloody heap.

Naruto got a good look at him and noticed that this stranger looked just like him, only older and with no whiskers. _'Who is this guy...why does he look...just like me?'_ He thought as he felt something flicker to life within him.

_**"Could it be? It is really him? After so long...Over 700 years too long..." **_The voice, with sounded surprizingly female and soft, said longingly.

_'What was that?!'_Naruto wondered as a stern gaze from the Hokage snapped him out of it.

"No one is to breathe a word of this. If word got out, spies from all corners of the world would begin to flock here and start sniffing about. I will not have that happening, is that clear?"

Iruka merely straightened himself before answering. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

Naruto remained silent for a moment, then replied, "Sure. But don't think for a moment that we're finished, old man. I've still got more questions for you, but those can wait for now." He told the elderly shinobi with a scowl that should never have adorned his face.

Both of them left the building, bound for their different destinations, while Sarutobi pondered what to do. "TORA! take him to the Hospital at once! I will follow as soon as I am done here."

The tiger masked ANBU snapped a quick salute. "At once, Hokage-sama!" He wheeled around and loaded the blonde man onto his shoulder. "OOOF! He didn't LOOK that heavy..." He grumbled as he Shunshin'd off to the Hospital.

The old Hokage turned to the rest of his ANBU. "Repair the damage and clean up the blood. Remove any evidence of what just happened." He ordered as they all set to work.

_'Now, to get myself to the hospital. I must find out just what happened and who that young man is...And why he looks like Naruto.'_ He thought as his gaze turned toward the Hokage Monument, the Yondaime's head in particular. _'Minato...I feel as though I have failed you. This village has all but spit on the sacrifice your son and yourself have made. I failed to make them understand and failed to protect the poor boy from this villages ignorance and hatred. Now, I fear Naruto will never trust me or this village ever again. The kind, happy and smiling little boy I once knew is now gone...How can I ever make up to the lapses in judgement that cost you so dearly, Naruto?'_

_**KONOHA HOSPITAL APRIL 13TH 0400 HRS**_

Medic nins and doctors alike were gathered in a single recovery room, gazing in awe at the patient that was dropped off by one of the ANBU at the HOKAGE'S request. The mysterious young man was brought in with severe mortal wounds and was slowly dying.

But a few seconds before they started to treat him, the wounds began to heal, seemingly on their own. His vitals which were weak and erratic before, were now strong and stable, as if he were only sleeping.

A scanning jutsu was used to observe how this was even possible, but the results in the end were inconclusive. They did discover that his chakra capacity was jaw-dropping. One medic commented that he'd never seen so much chakra in a person before in his life.

The doctor in charge of his medical treatment was had just finished briefing the Hokage, who came in a few moments ago.

"...And ever since, he's just been sleeping peacefully, recovering."

Sarutobi was carefully weighing what he was just told. _'His healing rate is nothing short of astounding! Only Naruto or other Jinchuriki like himself have ever healed that quickly...I must know more.' _He told himself inwardly. He turned to the nearest ANBU guard. "Go and fetch Inoichi Yamanaka immeadiately. Tell him this is urgent...highly urgent."

The ANBU in question snapped to attention and saluted. He then got to the task he was assigned. 30 minutes later saw Inoichi in front of the Hokage and being briefed on the situation.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to take a peek in his head while he's out and see who he is and why he's here?"

"That's about the long and short of it, yes. If you sense any hostility, pull out at once and we will find other means. While you are in there, I've got my own suspicions to confirm." Sarutobi instructed him as he began to prepare. Inoichi pulled up a chair to the blonde strangers bedside and used his clan signature jutsu.

_**THE STRANGER'S MINDSCAPE**_

Inoichi opened his eyes to find that the jutsu was a success. He found himself in a long, dimly lit hallway, lined with heavy looking wooden doors that seemed to stretch on forever. _'Hmm...His mind and thoughts seem to be fairly organized. I think that I should try a door...'_He mused as he twisted the knob on the first door he found, opened the door and walked inside.

Inside of the room, the decorum was like that of a meeting or planning room. There was a large wooden table surrounded by comfortable chairs. At the foot of the table, sat a projector. On the wall in front of it, was a white projection screen. Inoichi flipped the switch, took a seat, and began to watch what was on the reel.

_'These must be his memories, based on the content...'_

He watched as a beautiful, red-haired young woman, same age as his subject came into view. But, his reaction was surprize. _'K-Kushina Uzumaki?!'_ He thought wildly for a moment, but realized that this girl was much younger than the person he was thinking of. _'Still, the resemblance is quite astonishing. I'd swear that she was her daughter or twin sister.'_

_"Ichigo-kun! Come on, let's go!"_ She giggled, while pulling the young man along.

_'So, his name is Ichigo...Interesting. All of these memories must be some of his happier ones. He seems like a decent young man.' _The mind-jutsu expert concluded as watched more of his memories. This time, he saw what the young man was capable of in battle. He fought against what seemed to be mechanical golems and strange creatures that refused to die, until he asserted himself with a little more authority.

Inoichi was shocked. Ichigo had literally willed the wind around him and the water in the air to attack his enemies. Several dragons made of both elements roared to life as they launched themselves in all directions into his adversaries, ripping them apart with disturbing ease._'W-what was that?! Fuuton and Suiton jutsu without handseals?! It's like...those elements are obeying his will, like he owns them! Amazing!!'_

Next, as if this were a showcase of his abilities, Inoichi watched as Ichigo fought with a massive degree of skill and power in Taijutsu and with a multitude of different styles, some of which he'd never seen before. The young blonde moved so quickly, he was only a blur most of the time.

The projector finally came to a stop. _'This young man...What is he? Just how powerful is he and where were all of these places that I saw?" _Suddenly a voice rang out from the doorway. "Who are you? What are you doing in my head?" The voice called out, sounding more puzzled than anything.

The senior Yamanaka turned around to find the very person whose mind he was loitering around in. He was at a loss, it was the first time he had been mentally confronted like this, but kept himself composed. He also took the opportunity to introduce himself.

"I am Inoichi Yamanaka, a shinobi of Konoha, which is where you are currently, or to specific, it's hospital, Ichigo-san. Whatever scrap you got into left some serious, even life-threatening wounds. But somehow, your body healed them in record time. Due to the, strange, circumstances of your arrival and your amazingly quick healing, the leader of our village asked me to poke around in your head for information and to determine if you were a hostile threat."

"You...did, huh? So, you saw me fight?"

"Yes, I did. I must say that I was deeply impressed. Your level of elemental mastery over water hasn't been seen since the Niidaime. Your skill with Taijutsu is something that our own Taijutsu expert would be hard pressed to match, Especially from one so young."

Ichigo looked gobsmacked. He wasn't frightened? He didn't consider him a monster like so many others did to Shiina and himself? "Aren't you scared?"

Inoichi looked incredulous. "Why? You obviously don't mean us any harm. In fact, I'd like you to speak to our leader. He would more than likely offer you and your, um, girlfriend a place in our village."

"Wait, where is she? Did you see a young woman with red hair and deep green eyes?"

Inoichi looked regretful. "No...You were the only one we found. Now, back to the question at hand..."

Ichigo looked downcast as the room around them melted away and revealed a war torn city of some sort...

_**FLASHBACK**_

Ichigo stood amid the ruins of the town he and Shiina had been staying. The Chimeras and mech soldiers that had been hounding them since their escape from the Erebus labs had laid waste to a once peaceful German town. He had told Shiina to take cover while he bought her enough time to escape. She had been injured in a previous battle and she didn't heal as fast as he did, so he hid her away.

He had a strange blade that acted like a whip on hand as he began to fight back. Many of his enemies fell to his blade and his elemental powers, but more kept coming.

"They aren't playing around this time...The Illuminati wants us destroyed and they don't care who or what gets in their way..." He growled as he finished off another Chimera. "Time to kick this up a notch..."

The weather was actually to his advantage as it was raining, giving him plenty of water to work with and he began to sling water and wind projectiles in various shapes and sizes in all directions to thin out the numbers a bit.

After an hour of non-stop fighting, he was wearing down and his injuries were taking their toll as the Illuminati's forces closed in for the kill. _'No...I can't let them get her...I love her...'_ He thought as he braced himself to use the last of his strength in a desperate last stand which probably would have killed him.

From out of nowhere, a mighty roar sounded, stunning all present. Suddenly a massive fox dropped infront of the weakened Ichigo, draping some of its nine tails around him protectively. It then blew the remaining enemy forces away with a mighty sweep of its remaining tails.

Riding in the snout of the majestic beast was a young woman with flaming red hair. "ICHIGO-KUN!!! YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" She cried out in relief. She vaulted down to him and hugged him for dear life. "She saved me and brought me here to you..." She told him, motioning to the massive fox.

He looked at it with gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you...Saki. You saved her life. I'm in your debt."

The giant fox replied in a very gentle and surprizingly enough, a female voice. _**"No...I haven't even begun to repay the debt that myself and the rest of my kind owe to the two of you. I will always watch over you as a guardian and any future kits you may have."**_She told them with unmistakeable mischieviousness in her voice. _**"You have my word, on my honor."**_ She added solemnly.

He leaned in and hugged her snout with an arm still around Shiina. "Thank you, Kyuubi..."

In the distance, they all heard the sound of something big approaching them from the air, followed by the sound of something large being dropped near them. Ichigo knew what it was and became alarmed.

"IT'S AN N-2 MINE!!! SAKI, PROTECT HER!!!" He bellowed as he used the last of his power to erect a barrier of chakra around them. She didn't have enough time to argue, as the bomb detonated near by. The shockwaves were upon them nearly an instant later destroying everything in its path.

The energy from the explosive device collided with the barriers that Saki and Ichigo threw up. They held firm for a moment, but then Ichigo's wavered from combat fatigue and chakra depletion. Suddenly, the two opposing forces ripped open a hole in thime fabirc of time and space. The vortex had begun to pull at him and in a moment of weakness, pulled him inside. The final thing he heard was two female voices crying out, "NOOOO!!!!!!"

_**END FLASHBACK**_

Inoichi sat down in one of the rooms chairs in shock of what he just learned. _'The...Kyuubi...' _"What were you doing with the Kyuubi no Kitsune?!!" Did you order it to attack us 12 years ago?!" He bellowed in anger.

Ichigo looked at him like he grew another head. "What?! God no! You just saw ALL of my memories! She was once just a normal, docile fox spirit when she and 8 other spirits were captured to turned into weapons. Shiina and myself were engineered to be partnered with them, as well as being weapons ourselves. We broke free with the help of 3 people who were involved with the project. They had a change of conscience and freed us. They were Guren Hyuuga, Kyohaku Senju who helped track and trap the spirits, and Futaba Yuuhi who had a hand in creating myself and Shiina from norman human babies."

_'Senju...Hyuuga...Yuuhi?! What is going on here?! But...He can't be lying, or I'd know about it. Then...'_Inoichi paused as realization dawned on him. _'All of those objects...those places and names...No doubt about it. He's actually FROM the Pre-Sage Era!!'_ He mentally exclaimed, but then grew somber. _'Sadly, the people he knew and loved...are all long dead. He is truly alone now...The only survivor of his kind.' _He concluded.

Ichigo felt a mental tug. "Well, looks like I should be able to regain consciousness now. We'll talk more on the other side..." He told the mind-jutsu expert as he gave said person a quick mental shove back into his own body. "Well, time to find out just what the hell is going on here..."

_A/N: There. First chapter done. This new story is one of the reasons why I haven't really updated my other two stories, along with me being very busy, with my knee surgery right around the corner and having TWO very active little boys. As always, please review. This is the reason that my other two stories are beginning to stagnate, because people just add me to their favorites but not say anything. Please take a few extra seconds and tell me what you think or if I'm doing anything wrong. 'Till next time._


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey there, me again and with an update to my new fic. In only 8 hours, 5 reviews! I'm very pleased that some of you cared enough to let me know how I was doing. More reviews will keep the chapters coming!_

_**KONOHA HOSPITAL 0630 HRS APRIL 13th**_

Ichigo opened his eyes groggily to see the man he was talking with only a moment ago conversing with an elderly man in white robes and wearing a strange hat with the kanji for fire on it in red. He noticed that the conversation had to do with him and what the man saw inside his head.

They noticed that he was now awake and broke off their chat. The old man greeted him warmly. "Good morning, Ichigo-kun. I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of this village, Konoha. I understand from Yamanaka-san that you are a long way from home...about 700 years, we've estimated, I'm sorry to say."

Ichigo felt his blood freeze. Visions of Shiina's bright and loving smile flashed before his crystal blue eyes, then vanished as tears formed in them. "No...This...This has to be a mistake...or a nightmare...This can't be happening...Please God, no..." He began to whimper.

Sarutobi gazed at the sobbing young man in sympathy. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a mate, having lost his wife years ago. "I know this must be very hard for you to bear, I know from experience..." He told him softly, adding the last part at a whisper while putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Inoichi simply gazed on in worry. He had never gone through losing his wife, and certainly didn't want to find out how much it hurt, either.

After a few moments, a young nurse quietly entered the room with a small clipboard in her hands. "Hokage-sama, here are the results of the blood tests you requested." She told him as she handed the results to him. The old man flipped through the results multiple time, becoming more and more alarmed by the second.

_'Impossible...It's a complete genetic match! One could say that his blood is actually more pure, as if he were the source of the bloodline...This man is Naruto's ancestor...No wonder they look so much alike. Wait!!'_

"Who else has seen these results?" He snapped, slightly scaring the poor young woman.

"Besides myself, o-only the lab technician, sir." She squeaked out.

The elderly shinobi sighed in relief, then responed. "No one is to know of these results. I want you and the same person to run a new series of tests, against his blood again and these two individuals..." He ordered as he inscribed the two peoples names.

Understandably, the young nurse gasped in shock. "Y-You can't be serious..."

"Yes...I am. Now go. Tell no one or the penalty is death." He told her in a stern tone, one befitting a leader as she scrambled off.

He turned to the grieving young man before him. "Ichigo-kun, I have a question for you." He said aloud, getting his attention before lowering his voice. "Did you and Shiina-chan...get intimate...at any time?"

Ichigo blushed and flustered for a moment, then offered a weak nod. Sarutobi began to smile. "Then I have some good news for you. You have descendants, one of whom lives right here in this village and looks just like you..."

"You...You mean...she was pregnant...with my child? Saki...She knew...and protected her..." Ichigo breath out, too shocked for anything else.

The old Hokage started as he began to tell him about Naruto's past, warts and all. He believed that Ichigo deserved to know the whole truth.

Ichigo was estatic with the news that he had descendants. He and Shiina had children...and they had kids of their own and so one and so forth. However, his face fell into a firece scowl when he was told of Naruto's treatment. When he asked why, Sarutobi told him of the Kyuubi and how it attacked the village the night Naruto was born, and how it was sealed within him.

Ichigo gave a dismayed sigh as he palmed his face. "Even after all these years, humans STILL haven't gotten anymore tolerant of anything different that they are..." He muttered.

Sarutobi winced at the acid in his tone, but remembered his abilities. "Well, here, your abilities would be most welcome, and Naruto IS a part of our shinobi forces now..."

"You're asking me to join, aren't you?" He asked with a slight smirk, then waved his hand dismissively. "I would have asked you, anyway."

The old man was now grinning from ear to ear. This was like hitting pay dirt as far as force strength went. _'I think my day just got better...I just might find forgiveness after all.'_ He thought as the three men went over plans to watch of the blonde haired fox-boy in question.

Ichigo proposed that he get an apartment right next the Naruto's to make it easier to make initial contact with him and make continued contact less suspicious to all around him. It wasn't that Sarutobi didn't trust a vast majority of his ninja where Naruto was concerned...actually...he didn't. He didn't want others knowing to make things even more complicated...not even his future teacher or teammates, or even Naruto himself until the time was right.

The elderly leader learned of the young blonde's battle abilities and ties to the Kyuubi through Inoichi. Sarutobi was shocked at the origin to the fearsome Bijuu, but he became more understanding of their seemingly violent nature after the details were explained. He wanted to try a contact the Kyuubi directly and get her, yes HER, reasons for attacking the village.

The old man welcomed him into the villages ninja forces and commissioned him as a Jounin, and gave him his headband and Jounin vest. He also assigned him to an apartment right next door to Naruto to make it easier to keep tabs on the boy. Ichigo was also given a pay advance to procure any equipment, furnishings, and supplies that he might need.

Inoichi still had many questions about his new young fellow blonde, like about his sword. He'd never seen anything like before in his life. "So, Ichigo-kun, about that sword of yours...exactly what kind of blade is it?"

"Oh! I call it the Viper Blade! I found it a few years ago and it seemed natural to me!" He chirped, giving him a brief demonstration by lashing out with it at a nearby tree. The blade seemed to seperate and act like a whip, but it sliced cleanly through the tree like a sharp kunai through paper. "Neat, huh?" He said.

The breifing was now over and Ichigo was anxious to go get settled in to his new pad. Inoichi offered to show him around the village, to which his fellow blonde accepted. Their first stop was an outfitter, so that Ichigo could draw some basic weapons and supplies, as well as proper shinobi clothing. He stepped out of the shop actually looking the part of a Konoha Jounin, with a short sword strapped to his lower back with his whip blade strapped across it. He also now wore metal armguards on his forearms with fingerless gloves. Next was a bite to eat and then to his apartment, where Inoichi informed him that should he need anything, ask him. He was given his address and where he works.

Meanwhile back at the tower, Sarutobi sank into his chair, really feeling his age this time. His mind mulled over all that he had learned and tried to sort it all out. He now knew more about the Pre-Sage Era than most, if not all historians in the village, not to mention the TRUE origins of the Bijuu, and their original purpose.

Just before he could close his eyes for a few minutes of sleep, the same nurse from the hospital burst into the office, gasping for breath as if she sprinted the entire distance to the tower. "Here...Results..." She wheezed as she handed him the lab results, after which he told her to sit down and catch her breath.

The results didn't shock him as much as they should have. _'Both share genetic markers in common with him...Inoichi DID say that this Shiina was the spitting image of Kushina-chan. Maybe at one point, the bloodline split off, one side forming the Namikaze and the other the Uzumaki. Both clans just got a second chance at survival.'_ He mused before turning his attention back to the young woman.

"This information is top secret. Destroy all samples and records pertaining to this individual. Same rules apply."

She didn't have to have that explained to her, as it was very clear as to what would happen if she divulged that information. "Hai, Hokage-sama." She replied as she made her way back to the hospital to carry out her orders.

Sarutobi didn't have time to relax, though. The Jounin sensei's were due in for their team assignments any minute now. With a tired sigh, he called them in. Nine Jounin filed into the spacious office, three of which stuck out.

One was his own son, Asuma. He possessed the same beard and penchant for tobacco as his father. Also, he had at one time served the Fire Daimyo as a personal guard. He was slated to lead and train the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio. He accepted the assignment with an amused expression.

The next was a newer Jounin kunoichi by the name of Kurenai Yuuhi. She accepted Team 8, a team that was to specialize in tracking and recon work. She was a moderate work-a-holic with a somewhat reserved personality, but she had her own reasons for wanting the Hyuuga heiress on her team.

Finally, there was Kakashi Hatake, son of the famous White Fang Sakumo Hatake, as well as being known far and wide himself as the infamous Copy ninja, or Sharingan Kakashi. He was assigned to Team 7. He had wanted to train the Uchiha survivor for sometime now. The third team member, however, he was less than enthusiastic about.

_'Naruto Uzumaki, huh? Dead last in all classes, scraping the bottom of the barrel in all skills...what a waste of time.'_

Sarutobi eyed them with an unusual amount of scrutiny, especially Kakashi. He wondered if the cycloptic Jounin had really learned from his past mistakes, or if he were only trying to run from them.

_'I hope for Naruto's sake that he has...or this will get very ugly, very quickly. If he treats Naruto the same as the rest of the village, Ichigo is liable to make us short one more Sharingan user. He didn't look very happy when I mentioned WHY Naruto needed ANBU bodyguards.'_ He mused in worry.

He knew that Ichigo possessed powers beyond anything that they'd ever seen and that stomping the village flat wouldn't be much of a problem for him if they infuriated him enough, despite his live-and-let-live demeanor. He remembered something that his own sensei, the Shodaime himself, told him once : _Even a guardian angel can become a devil when provoked._

_**NARUTO'S APARTMENT COMPLEX, ICHIGO'S APARTMENT 0900 HRS**_

Ichigo had just finished putting the last of his things away when he went out to his balcony to take in the view. He got a improvised tour of the village from Inoichi, but he still had some questions.

He was about to head back in to change into some more comfortable training clothes to burn off some excess energy when he heard a yawn come from the neighboring veranda. He looked over to see, for all intents and purposes, a midget version of himself.

_'That must be Naruto. Damn, that kid's short! Didn't they feed this kid?!'_ He thought as he observed the younger blonde.

Said shorty noticed him staring at him. "AHHH!! What're you doing here?!" He yelled in surprize.

"Geez, kid...don't come with a volume control?" He remarked, his ears still ringing a bit. He then introduced himself. "The name's Ichigo, Ichigo Suzumiya.

See ya around, kiddo." The elder blonde announced as he went back inside of his apartment.

_'This guys kind strange...But at least he doesn't glare at me like everyone else. He might be alright.'_ He told himself. Naruto felt the same voice he heard the previous night come back again.

_**"It IS him...It's been too long...Ichigo-kun, I've missed you so..."**_ The voice wept. The voice turned her attention to him. _**"You can trust him, kit. He will not harm you. In fact, he might even be willing to help you, if you ask him."**_ The voice told him in a soothing voice.

Naruto didn't know what to make of this. It was all so confusing for the boy. _"Who are you? How do you know him?"_ He asked intently.

_**"I am called the Kyuubi no Kitsune, my child." **_She told him kindly. He was suddenly pulled in to the depths of his mind and found himself standing before a massive barred gate with a tag on it that said "Seal". Beyond the bars, lurked the most massive beast he thought he'd ever see, a 30-story tall fox with nine massive tails.

Naruto was dumbstruck and awed by the sight, until he put two and two together. This thing was the reason why he was hated so much. His awe turned into anger at the realization of that fact. "You..." He growled at her as he trembled in rage.

Saki was not going to be denied her explaination. _**"Naruto-kun, I must tell you my side of the story of what happened the night I was sealed away into you. I came to the village to fulfill an oath I made over 700 years ago to an ancestor of yours...An oath to protect his kits for the rest of my days. I was bound by a debt of honor to serve as your family's guardian beast. Upon approaching the village, I was ambushed and placed under a Genjutsu by a man with eyes that looked like a pin wheel. The illusion caused me to fly into a rage, destroying everything in my path. I continued to rampage until I met the Yondaime, who looked so much like the person I swore my oath to. I was so shocked, that I paused, which gave him the opening he needed to seal me into you. "**_ She told him as softly as she could, somehow quelling his anger as she did so.

As if to further reinforce what she told him, she shifted down to her human form, a somewhat tall woman with fire red hair and crimson eyes, wearing an elegant light blue-colored kimono with honey brown-colored maple leaves adorning it, topped off by her red fox ears and her nine tails, swishing gracefully behind her.

Naruto was stunned into silence by her new appearance. _'Wow...She's beautiful...'_ He thought as he asked her what was on his mind. "I'm...I'm sorry that I got mad at you. It's just that...all this time..." He began as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Saki saw this and knew what to do for her young container. She drew him into the cage and into a gentle embrace, the kind that only a mother could offer. _**"I know, Naruto-kun. Your life has been wracked with heartbreak and sorrow, with pain and lonliness that could have broken even the strongest hearts, yet yours held fast. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you, my Kit."**_ She told him as she covered the her small blonde host with her tails, allowing him to find some sort of reprieve.

As Naruto rested in her tails, Saki fondly played with his spiky hair while thinking about all that she had learned that day. _**'I will protect this kit, with my very soul if need be. I failed to protect your decendents before, but I will fulfill my oath by protecting this boy with all of my remaining powers...I swear it.'**_ She vowed as she too fell into a peaceful slumber.

_**4 DAYS LATER. APRIL 17TH 0730 HRS**_

_**NARUTO'S APARTMENT**_

Naruto had woken up grudgingly with the shrill sound of his seemingly third-hand alarm clock. He then got up, showered, and began to boil some water for his ramen. During the three minute wait, his mind wandered back over the past four days...

He had gotten aquainted with his new neighbor, Ichigo, on a more casual level. He wandered into a clearing that the older blonde was training in by chance, and was awe-struck by the moves, techniques, and weapon that he used. The blade seperated and almost seemed as if it were alive. For a guy of his height, he was pretty graceful. He effortlessly bisected a pair training posts like paper before letting his blade come back together. A little flashy, but deadly effective.

Ichigo then noticed that he was being watched. _'So...the runt came to watch, huh?'_ He smiled to himself. _'May as well put on the best damn show he's ever seen!'_

Naruto noticed that the air around him was becoming still and parched, while water began to spin and form around the elder shinobi. He then raised his hand and the water shot out at a nearby tree, splitting it in half with a thunderous crack.

It wasn't the sheer power of the jutsu that floored the young jinchuriki, but the fact that he didn't use ANY handseals to do what he did. It was as if the water was a living extension of himself and did as he commanded.

Saki watched from inside the seal. She knew that he was showing off in order to catch Naruto's attention, but was still surprized that a human in any form could wield such immense power. She knew that he wanted to train Naruto, and knew that no one else would.

The short blonde was snapped out of his awe by Ichigo calling out to him. "Hey there, short stuff! Like what you saw?" His neighbor called out to him with a warm smile. _'I guess I'll see what he wants...Kid could use some kind of positive attention.'_

"How did you do that?!?! That was awesome!!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

Ichigo smirked and rubbed the bridge of his nose proudly. "THAT...is a secret, little buddy." He teased.

"WHAT?!!? Aw, come on! Can't you teach me anything?! Come on! Please?!" He begged, turning on the puppy-dog eyes.

Ichigo looked at the boy incredulously for a moment, then burst out into gut busting laughter, falling to the ground while doing so. When he recovered, He looked Naruto in the eye. "When you look at me like that, how can I refuse?" He told him jokingly.

For the next four days, Naruto was practically his neighbor's shadow, hanging off of the elder blonde's every word. They went through chakra control techniques, some simple taijutsu and grappling. In return, naruto taught him the Kage Bunshin, something that Ichigo found extremely useful. Then, the two neighbors just chatted over bowls of ramen at Ichiraku's, like they had been friends and neighbors for years.

Ichigo was well recieved by the ramen chef and his daughter, seeing as the tall jounin had all but taken Naruto under his wing. The boy came in all scuffed up, dirty and tired, but smiling after every training session. He had learned in just those for days, far more than he learned in the first three years of the academy. All it took was a patient teacher with a sharp eye to see the boy's latent potential.

Those four days were some of the happiest Naruto had in a long time, not to mention productive. He now had a very good friend that was also a Jounin, who was willing to take the time to teach him things. Naruto had a nightmare the third night and was screaming out. Ichigo had heard him and burst into the small apartment, thinking that some stupid villager had attacked his new friend. He realized that it was only a nightmare, but still tried to calm him down.

"Shh, it's alright, kiddo. It's just me..." The older blonde told him softly to soothe him. Inside, the Kyuubi was doing the same thing. His mind was a real mess due to the nightmare, and it was affecting her as well.

She held her host's mental figure tightly with her arms and tails, while trying to sooth the boy's pain. _**"Shh, it's okay, my little kit. I won't let them hurt you. Be at ease..."**_ The fox demoness whispered in his ear while she sang him a gentle lullaby. Saki noticed that his breathing was calming down and his body began to go slack and relaxed.

The mighty demoness shed a tear at the damage the village had done to the innocent boy over the years. _**'They have the nerve to call ME a demon...They have proven themselves more like the evil monsters that they claim me to be than I could ever become...and this poor kit has paid the price for their gross ignorance.' **_

_**"I'll watch over you while you sleep, Naruto-kun. I will make sure no more nightmares come to harm you..."**_

Naruto was taken out of his musings by the sound of his timer going off, telling him that his ramen was ready to eat. He quickly ate his breakfast, did his dishes, and left for the Academy, for the final time.

_A/N: Here's chapter two for ya. I know how the Bijuu came about but as in my other fics, this is how it happened. A kind Kyuubi is very possible. I read up on Japanese folklore regarding Foxes and most are female anyway and there were benevolent Kyuubi as well. Also, kind Kitsune will leave behind gifts to humans that have truly helped and befriended them, like Saki here has done._


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter three, ready to go! Now, Naruto's back at the academy for his team placements and his no bull**** attitude is still in place. No more Mr. Nice Guy to his tormentors. On with the Fic!!_

_**KONOHA ACADEMY 0800 HRS**_

Naruto wasted no time in getting to his soon-to-be old classroom. He was in a somewhat more cheerful mood as he moved to take his seat.

Shikamaru Nara noticed his walk past him. _'That can't be right...'_ He thought. "Hey, Naruto. Didn't you fail the exam? Not that I mind you being here..." He asked the bright blonde genin.

Naruto didn't mind the question one bit. "Nope. I did a make up test and aced it, so here I am." He told the lazy Nara calmly with a smile.

Shikamaru noticed a subtle change in his fellow genin. _'He's...more calm now, collected. This will be interesting to see.'_ He noted with a grin.

Just before Naruto made it to his seat, he was stopped by a obnoxious voice calling to him. "Hey, dobe! Don't ignore me! I said what do you think you're doing here?" Kiba Inuzuka sneered at him.

Naruto turned to him with an annoyed look and replied, "What, you didn't hear what I told Shikamaru? I don't feel like explaining it again, so take a hike." He finished with a neglegent wave of his hand while turning around.

This of course enraged the tempermental Inuzuka. "Don't you get fresh with me, you weakling!" He roared as he bore down on Naruto.

With a snap move of his arm and the lessons in grappleing that Ichigo gave him, he grabbed the dog-nin's arm and threw him across the room. Before Kiba could get his bearings again, Naruto grabbed his throat and pinned him to the wall.

The first thing Kiba noticed was that Naruto no longer had blue eyes anymore. They were a bloody, crimson red. The next thing was that he seemed much more powerful than he'd ever seen before. The last, was his voice. "**Don't ever do that again. Do you understand me?"** He growled in an almost double-voice but still calm, completely freaking out everyone in the room, especially Kiba and his dog, Akamaru.

All Kiba could do was nod dumbly. He was frightened, terrified and his partner even more so. For that brief moment, the class clown seemed...inhuman, almost demonic.

Across the room, a pair of pale eyes watched him with worry. Hinata Hyuuga, heir to the most prostigious in the village, had a huge crush on the blonde prankster. She saw the terrifying change come over him, but she knew that he only reacted in self-defense. _'Naruto-kun...I wish I could tell you...that I know your secret, and that I don't care. The Kyuubi is the Kyuubi and you are you, no matter what anyone says.'_

Naruto finally made it to his seat, which happened to be right next to the rookie of the year, Sasuke Uchiha. Said Uchiha seemed to brood and sulk all the time, even though almost the entire village went out of their way to literally worship the ground he walked on, spoiling him beyond imagination. Sasuke had everything that Naruto ever wanted, but scoffs at it. The prodigy truly disgusted him, but he never let his jelousy get the better of him.

Sasuke Uchiha looked over to see the dead last of his class take a seat next to him. Naruto usually went beneath his notice, labeling him as inferior like everyone else and scoffing at him. However, when he saw what happened with Kiba, he wanted to know what Naruto did, thinking that it was some kind of jutsu. He wanted that power, and no dobe would have a power that he didn't, not if he had his way.

Naruto had laid his head down on the desk in front of him, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep when he heard a commotion come from the classroom door. "Aw, man...Now what?" He groaned to himself.

Like a small stampede, two girls rushed in, homing in on the seat Naruto was currently sitting in. Sakura Haruno and her once friend now rival Ino Yamanaka were just like the rest of the village where Naruto's welfare was concerned, not concerned at all. To them, the misunderstood blonde was seen as a loser and a bad seed, one to never be friendly with or it would mean social suicide.

They were told to just ignore him by the other adults, but they and some of their classmates took it upon themselves to take it just a bit further. They insulted and ridiculed him every chance they got, and Sakura even went as far as hitting and hurting him physically. They didn't think it was wrong due to the fact that none of the teachers stopped them, neither did the adults who witnessed it.

Just as they reached his seat, Naruto was brutally ripped from it by the pink haired girl, with absolutly no warning. He landed, HARD, on his left shoulder, slightly dis-locating it. Naruto hissed in pain as he grabbed the injured shoulder and slammed it back into place against a wall, like Ichigo taught him to do, but didn't recommend. He bit the inside of his cheek so hard that he drew blood, but it was all he could do to keep from screaming out in pain.

Inside the seal, Saki was furious at how callously her host was treated by this pink haired harpy. _**'The nerve of that...that wench...'**_ She thought while her hands and body quaked with fury. _**'Hurting my kit just to be near that Uchiha brat...If I were able to do as I wished, I'd show them just what they're dealing with.'**_ She seethed in anger as she set to work repairing the slight tears in her vessel's shoulder tendons.

As soon as the pain hit, it was gone. He made his way back to where his seat was to see Ino and Sakura still aguring over who would sit there.

"I'M gonna sit next to Sasuke-kun, forehead girl!!"

"NO, I AM, Ino-pig!!"

Naruto had heard just about enough of their pointless arguing for his tastes. He was now officially pissed off. Kiba tested his patience, but these two wore it out. He was sitting there peacefully, not bothering anyone and they came barging in and threw him from where he was sitting. Hell, the chair on the other side of the emo-prince was EMPTY. _'They could have sat there, for crying out loud! But NO...they had to throw me out of MY seat! I've had it!!! That's it!!'_ He roared mentally.

On the other side of the room, Hinata had alook on her face that was concern for Naruto mixed with rage and anger for what Sakura and Ino did to said blonde. She had never felt as angry with ANYONE in her whole life as she was with the two fangirls in question right now. She was about to leave her seat to give them a piece of her mind, when Naruto got up and addressed the problem, personally.

"SHUT UP!!! SHUT THE HELL UP!!!" He bellowed.

The terrible two had the nerve to look shocked, then angered. "What did you say, you BAKA?!?!" The pinkette hollered back.

"You heard me. But in case you have Kiba's hearing problem, I'll say it again...SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!" He roared again, louder for good measure. "What the hell is your damage, just ripping me from my seat like that?!" He added, then proceeded to rip them a new asshole apiece.

Meanwhile, on a branch outside of the classroom, Ichigo sat perched on a branch that gave him a good view, but kept him hidden as well. It just wouldn't do to be caught watching over him. He nearly blew his cover when Naruto got angry the first time. But now, Naruto was angrier than before, and he sensed some of Saki's chakra leaking out.

During the past week, he had been communicating with her via a shared mental link that was uninhibited by the seal. He had asked her what happened after he disappeared from their time, but she had no clue. The attack that sent him away put her into a sort of hibernation, so she couldn't tell him.

He knew that he had to get Saki to pull the plug on him and fast. There was no telling what this much of her chakra in his system would do to him and those around him. But, she couldn't do it. The seal was too strong for her to have that kind of control, so she tried to calm him down. _**"Naruto-kun!! You have to calm down! There's no telling what this much of my power in your coils will do to you! Please, stop!!" **_She pleaded with her host, but to no avail.

_"Don't worry, Saki. I'll stop him on my end. I just hope that he'll understand." _He told her sadly.

Back inside, Naruto's anger was rising even higher. They thought of him as piece of garbage, an emotionless puching bag to do with as they pleased. The Uchiha even told him that nobody cared about him. Sakura didn't help any. She just told him that a stupid, clanless orphan wasn't even fit to be breathing the same air as the Uchiha, much less the rest of them. Just a stupid, worthless orphan whose own parents didn't even want him.

At that, Naruto snapped. Insulting his situation was the last straw, as he almost flew toward them. In the same instant, Ichigo intervened by flickering inbetween him and his targets but sinking his fist into his gut and adding a little electricity to it, acting like a stun gun. The hit dropped him quickly as the crimson red aura around him faded and he flopped into Ichigo's arms. He was heard saying, "I'm sorry, kid. But this is for your own good."

The tall blonde Jounin gently lifted the boy into his arms with a sad, remorseful look on his face. He was almost out the door when he heard one of the Uchiha fanclub comment on the situation.

"HAHAHA!! The dobe went and got himself arrested! Serves him right for what he said about Sasuke-kun! I hope they kill that stu..."

She never got to finish, as she now felt the kiss of a VERY sharp blade to her neck. She looked over to where the older shinobi was before, only to see Naruto resting on an unused table with the ninja in question nowhere to be found, except right behind her.

"If you value your life, you WILL be silent." He told her, venom and fury laced into his tone. The killing intent that he was radiating was permiating the room, making it hard to breathe except for a select group of people, those who treated Naruto with some semblance of respect.

"I am not here to arrest him." He told them as he re-sheathed his short sword. "I'm only here to bring him to Hokage-sama, as he wishes to speak with him, then I find all of this. I must say that I am thouroghly disgusted by your actions. What happened was completely uncalled for and you..." He pointed to Sakura and Ino, "were the one's who struck first. I have no doubts that if I hadn't stopped him, you two wouldn't be breathing right now, so consider yourselves lucky. Next time, you may not be so fortunate."

Ino looked indignant at the insinuation. "Ha! Sasuke-kun would have saved us! It doesn't matter how strong the Baka is, Sasuke-kun will always be stronger! After all, what can some stupid orphan do, anyway?"

This comment really set of the normally calm blonde. He hit her with a glare that was packed to the gills with killer intent that made her collapse to her knees with fear. "**You know NOTHING, you ignorant little girl.**" He growled in an inhuman sounding tone. "You don't know..." He continued, in a quieter, more pained and subdued tone. "The pain...being all alone, with no one to help you, everyone hating you for something you can't help and they can't understand..." He finished, hugging himself slightly, as he relived part of his past.

"Hn. You're just weak. Just like the dobe and the rest of this village." A cold voice sneered from the side of the room. Uchiha Sasuke stepped into the center of the room, his fangirls rallying behind him. Sakura piped up, "Sasuke-kun is right! He'll be the strongest in the village before long! After they make him Hokage, even you will bow to him!"

Ichigo looked at her like she grew another head, as did Shikamaru and Hinata. "Geez, listen to yourselves...Do you have any idea how dumb you sound?" The lazy genius drawled. "Blind faith and ignorant devotion are both dead-ends in the shinobi way of life. They started some of the worst tragedies in history."

Ichigo added his knowledge into the argument. "I agree. Those traits turned a once peaceful country into a genocide machine, nearly driving an entire race in extinction. They made a religions of peace and goodwill, into fanatical and bloodthirsty mobs that murdered all those who disagreed with them. Tell me, where do you see your version leading you?"

The crowd was struck dumb by his words. Even the fangirls had nothing to say that could counter that argument. Iruka, who walked into the room to hear that, could only nod at the wisdom of those words.

"I agree as well. Blind fanatism is foolish and very dangerous in this line of work. I've seen first hand the kind of horrors that blind faith can give rise to."

This time, Hinata added a response. "Admitting that you are in pain is not weakness, but itself a form of strength. He always felt the pain, but never surrendered to it. I've watched him for a long time, and I know the real him. He is far stronger than I could ever hope to be." The young Hyuuga spoke, pride clearly present in her tone.

_'She...She looks...just like Guren!! Her eyes, face, and even her voice are the same!!_

Sakura gave a rather unlady-like snort at the statement. "Whatever. Just because you like the baka, doesn't mean..." She would have finished, but a pair of activated Byakugan eyes and a glowing palm mere fractions of an inch from her face silenced her.

"NOT. ONE. MORE. WORD." Hinata spat, her words filled to the brim with barely contained fury. "I have had it with you and the rest of your kind. You fangirls really are a dispicable breed. You WILL leave Naruto-kun alone, or you will regret it. Do not think that I am weak. I was merely holding back for fear of killing someone, but now I will not let such concerns stay my hand any longer. Do you understand?"

All the pinkette could do was nod. They had never seen the shy and timid Hyuuga girl like this, so they had no clue what she would do if they tested her.

Ichigo gave her a grateful look. "Thank you. This boy has been mistreated for far too long. It warmed my heart to hear you express that." He thanked her, then turned his head to Shikamaru. "You, too. It's nice to see someone so young with such a level-head."

_'Guren, I'll protect this child of your lineage, with my very life. It seems as though she has a bit of a crush on Naruto...I'll see if I can nurse it along.'_ He vowed mentally as he gave her a gentle smile.

The similarity of this new Jounin and her crush wasn't lost on the Hyuuga Heiress as she summoned up the nerve to ask him a question. "A-ano...Who are you? I've never seen you before, but you seem to look just like Naruto-kun."

It was an honest enough question, so he figured it deserved an equally honest answer. "Me? I'm his neighbor. The name's Ichigo, Ichigo Suzumiya. As for the resemblance, just a coincidence."

Hinata seemed satisfied with that answer and introduced herself. "I must apologize for my ill manners. I am Hinata Hyuuga. It is a pleasure to meet you, Suzumiya-san." She told him in a polite and gentle tone with a graceful bow.

Shikamaru smirked a bit at this new Jounin's relaxed attitude. "Shikamaru Nara here. Nice to meet you, Suzumiya-san."

Iruka shared the same smirk and decided to introduce himself as well. "My name is Iruka Umino, their instructor. A pleasure, Suzumiya-san." He greeted, extending his hand for a handshake, which Ichigo took up with a smile.

Ichigo chuckled warmly at the honorific. "No worries, it's alright. You guys can just call me Ichigo." He told them as he hefted an unconscious Naruto into his arms. "Iruka-san, could you pass on a message to whom ever Naruto's Jounin-sensei might be that I have taken him to see Hokage-sama?"

"Sure, but why?"

Ichigo's voice took on a serious and professional tone. "Tell whomever it is that it has to do with his condition and October 10th."

Iruka caught the meaning in the message and nodded, understanding the need to see the Hokage so urgently. "Right. I'll inform him or her and direct them your way."

"Thank you, Iruka-san. I must be going now." He answered the school teacher, his voice echoing as he flickered away in a burst of pure speed and leaving behind a bewildered class.

Iruka cleared his throat to get the attention of the class for team assignments.

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. Your Jounin-sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

Sakura balked at the mention of Naruto being on her team. "Why do I have to get saddled with the Dobe?! That's not fair!" She whined to Iruka, but he just wouldn't have it.

"These teams are decided upon by the Hokage himself. Would you claim to know better than him, Miss Haruno?" He shot back at her in a calm yet still challenging tone, a tone that dared her to speak again. Meanwhile, still brooding in his seat, Sasuke sneered at the team make-up. "A useless dobe and and pathetic fan-girl. If you hold me back, you'll regret it." He told Sakura in a cold, seething tone.

Sakura looked as though she had been slapped. "B-But...You c-can't mean that, can you Sasuke-kun?"" She asked him with desperation, her eyes stinging with tears, as she tried to take his arm.

Sasuke roughly shoved her away like she was contaigous. "Don't touch me. You are nothing but a burden, so stay out of my way...or else." He sneered as he raised his hand to strike her.

Shikamaru had seen enough. He might not like Sakura, but she was a fellow Konoha shinobi like him, and his mother had pounded some chivalry into him. He used his Kagemane Jutsu to restrain Sasuke from doing anything else. Chouji followed his lead, expanding his hands and arms to trap the Uchiha.

"That's enough, Uchiha." The lazy Nara growled.

Ino couldn't believe what these two were doing to the object of her affections as she began to berate them. "What the hell are you doing to Sasuke-kun?!"

Chouji fielded the response for this one. "The same thing that Naruto would have done if he did that to you or anyone else." The large Akimichi boy answered her calmly.

Ino was now floundering for answers and excuses as to why her crush would be so callous and cruel. "He...He was just..." She stammered out, but was cut of by none other than Shino Aburame.

"Why do you continue to make excuses for him when you know what he is really like? This is clearly not logical or rational behaivor." The silent bug-nin stated in a rather clear tone than his usual silent one.

Iruka had also seen enough. "ENOUGH!!" He bellowed not even using the famed "Big-Head" that he normally used when reprimanding students. This told the class that he was really pissed off this time. This also caused the two long time friends to release Sasuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha...What you just showed was blatent disregard for your teammates and contempt for your fellow shinobi. If it were within my authority, I would take your headband right now and ban you from ever becoming a ninja. You will be silent and I will hear about no more of your little temper tantrums." He growled out, getting into Sasuke's face for effect. "Is that clear?" He added.

Sasuke simply huffed, turned on his heel, and sat in the back of the class, sulking over being yelled at. Iruka shook his head and continued on down the list.

"Team 8 will be Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka. Your Jounin sensei will be Kurenai Yuuhi.

Hinata's face fell in disappointment. She wanted at least Naruto on her team, but she would have to make do. It would be unseemly to complain about something that was set in stone, especially after the scene Team 7 caused. _'Poor Naruto-kun...on a team that hates him. I hope that at least the sensei is nice to him...'_ She hoped.

"Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your Jounin-sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. That concludes the pairing for this class. I wish you all the best of luck in your new careers." He told them as he left the classroom.

Ino was oddly quiet about the team make-ups. On one hand she still held her affections for the Uchiha, but when he was about to hit Sakura like he did, she was left with some serious doubts. She also remembered what Chouji told her, that Naruto would have done the same as Shikamaru did and jumped to her aide, regardless of the fact that they openly hated him. It all gave her a lot to think about.

The other senseis came in and took their students away, but Team 7's sensei was still not there. Sakura kept her distance from Sasuke for the time being. She was currently warring with herself over how to take what happened.

_'Damn that stupid Naruto!!! This is all his fault!!'_ She ranted in her head. Her Inner self, normally silent since she began her crush on Sasuke, began to rage back at her.

_**"Don't you dare blame this on Naruto!! You've always known that Sasuke was like this, but you've always been too blind to see it. Naruto was always nice to you and everyone else...until you all kicked him when he was down. That disgusted me more than the constant fawning and time you've wasted on that brooding jerk!" **_

_"Oh yeah?! Then why did that baka flip out like he did?! He had no reason to...' _She counter-argued until being cut off by I.S (Inner Sakura).

_**"Save the excuses!! You, in all your brilliance, attacked him first! You ripped him from his chair and hurt his shoulder, then you have the nerve to throw the fact that he has no one to come home to in his face!! That was low, even for you." **_I.S snarled. She was the voice of reason that Sakura somehow found a way to keep on lockdown, but enough was enough. She knew that her ill opinion of Naruto didn't come from her parents, but from gossip and rumors. The presense of the Uchiha was even more of a bad influence.

This new information about the whiskered blonde only further fueled her dislike for his treatment, but her vessel was too easily influenced and gullible to see the boy for who he really was. He was sad, lonely and calling out for help to a world that seems disgusted with his very existence. Her heart went out to him, it really did. But with the fan-girl persona in place as the main face, there was nothing she could do but try to talk some sense into her host.

Sakura was at a loss for words at the fury of her Inner self, but her fan-girl tendencies once again took control. _'So what?! He's still just annoying and stupid! No wonder nobody would adopt him!'_

Inner Sakura was speechless at the sheer cruelty of those words. _**"How could you..." **_She breathed. She couldn't believe what she heard, but quickly recovered. _**"This is unforgivable...This is how you repay his kindness...with cruelty. As of now, you WILL treat him better and at least as a teammate or I WILL make you pay. Mark me, I WILL make good on my threat."**_ She snarled as she faded back into the recesses of Sakura's mind.

_'YOU make ME pay? Yeah right.' _She snorted. Sakura had no intention of heeding the warning of her Inner Self. She was just too set in her ways to just change overnight, let alone eventually. She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound to the classroom door opening and closing. She looked to the doorway to see a tall, lanky looking Jounin.

"Are you Team 7?" He asked lazily.

Sakura nodded.

"Aren't you one short? Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked them in a slightly exasperated manner.

Sakura looked to Sasuke, but saw that he wasn't going to answer, so she decided to tell him what the Jounin who came earlier told her to say. "Um, Kakashi-sensei? A Jounin came in earlier and took him to see the Hokage. Do you know who that was? He looked nice but he was kind of scary...and he looked almost exactly like Naruto..." She trailed off as she thought about what was said. "He also told me to mention something about a condition, and October 10th. Do you know what he meant by that?" He asked honestly, because she had absolutly no clue what could be so important about the dead last of her class.

Kakashi's only visible eye widened for a brief moment before he spoke. "We'll do introductions here, then Naruto will get to do his tomorrow..." He told them as they did their introductions. _'Predicable...At least I got the Uchiha I wanted...'_ He thought to himself about the two Genin before him. "Be at Training Ground #7 tomorrow at 0700 for your test. Also, you might not want to eat breakfast, or you might throw up." He told them as he flickered away to see the Hokage about Naruto.

Sakura turned to Sasuke, who had already gotten up to go home. "Hey, um, Sasuke-kun? Could I walk home with you?" She asked him hopefully with a slight blush, hoping he had calmed down from earlier. The reaction she got shattered that hope.

"No. Go away, you pest." He muttered in a cold tone and he glared at her.

As he walked away, all she could do was sink to her knees and cry. The one she idolized and placed on a pedistal was being very cruel and mean to her...just like she had been to her teammate...

Just then, she felt herself dragged into the depths of her own mind. Once there, she found herself face-to-face with her Inner Self. _**"Well? How does it feel now that what you've done to Naruto all of these years is happening to you?" **_Inner Sakura asked her, expecting an answer.

_"Why? Why is this happening?! This is all that baka's fault that Sasuke hates me!!" _She screamed at her underlying ego.

_**"This AGAIN? How, pray tell, is this Naruto's fault? He wasn't even there to do anything! That other Jounin, this Ichigo Suzumiya, took him to see the Hokage about something. It looked like something was wrong with him. He never acted like that before. It was so strange..."**_ She muttered.

_"Who cares?! Sasuke-kun is the only one for me!! I'll never forgive that baka for getting in the way!!"_

Inner Sakura groaned in disgust. _**"You stubborn...Fine. I'll just keep letting you learn the hard way. Maybe THEN you'll get it in your head. Hopefully you don't lose it first."**_ She growled as she disappeared once again into her host's sub-conscious.

The pinkette shook her head to clear it, then made her way home.

_A/N: There. Done. I hope you like the philosphical banter I put in there because that's how I really feel. Also, Hinata won't be meek for much longer, not where Naruto is concerned. Also, I hope you like the inner struggle of Sakura against her inner. Ciao!!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4 up and ready! More of you decided to review my work and a big thank you to Rose Tiger for pointing out things about my sentence structure. I've improved where I could and here is the end result. I hope that you like it!_

_**HARUNO RESIDENCE 1640 HRS**_

Sakura wearily stumbled into the entryway of her house as she called out to her parents. "I'm home!"

Her parents, Takeo and Sanae, ran a small import/export business in the village, trading wares with various different countries and towns, and were moderately successful at it. Sanae was a somewhat doting woman with a level head on her shoulders. She also had a real knack for numbers, as she handled the finances of the family and business. Her father, Takeo, was a particularly shrewd business man with a keen eye. His flair for wheeling and dealing kept them in the black.

The night of the Kyuubi attack, they were just getting back into the village when all of the carnage died down. When they heard of the demon being sealed into a newborn baby and the Yondaime's last wish, they knew that the fallen Hokage saw something special in the boy. They honored the final wish and even tried adopting him, but was blocked by the council from doing so, as were the few other families and clans that came forward. They could only watch as the poor boy grew up alone and unloved. With how nurturing Sanae was, it broke her heart to see it.

They had a few business dealings with the boy, such as letting him help out in exchange for food or a little extra spending money. His work ethic and knack for quick thinking impressed Takeo so much that he offered Naruto a full-time job with him once he was older. But Naruto declined, saying that he already put them in danger just by being there and he didn't to take advantage of them when they were so nice to him, so he disappeared.

The only things they heard of about him were nothing but the same nasty rumors as before and to make things worse, their daughter, Sakura, had started to spread the same vile rumors and generally make the misunderstood boy's life in school just as bad as his private life. Even worse than that, she was a fan-girl of that Uchiha brat that the rest of the village was so keen on spoiling.

It made Takeo's blood boil just thinking about how the Uchiha clan are the ones responsible for making sure that Naruto was never adopted, and he knew that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Sanae was of the same opinion. All that she heard about Naruto from her daughter was that he was annoying, stupid, and the dead last. She admonished her daughter for thinking that way, for not getting to know him for herself. She had hoped that Sakura would be his friend or at least be nice to him, but those hopes were dashed.

Takeo had just closed up shop when he heard his daughter come in the door. "Oh, hey there, sweetie!" He greeted her in his usual fashion. "Hi, dad." She responded with a tired sigh that didn't go unnoticed by him.

"So...how did your day go? You got assigned to a team today right?" He asked his daughter.

"I can't believe I've got Sasuke-kun on my team!! Ino-pig was sooo jealous!" She squealed.

Her father, however, was less than enthusiastic about that. He just grunted in acknowledgement, as he never really liked the brat. Every time he turned around, there was someone else lined up to kiss that little brat's ass. The rate at which he was spoiled had quickly become a nuisance.

One day, the brat came into his store and expected the prices to be lowered for him, as well. Takeo didn't really jive with that idea, telling him that he wasn't special and had to pay the same as everyone else. Sasuke didn't really like being told that he couldn't have something he wanted, so he complained to the civilian council and trade commissions about him. In turn, they slapped him with fees, suits, and a few with embargos against him. That brat nearly flushed his and his wife's hard built business down the crapper because he didn't get his way. The only reason why his small business survived was due to the help of Teuchi Ichiraku, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. They started to do their business through him because they heard how he tried to help Naruto, so they decided to help him. After that, he was a firm believer in Karma, that you reap what you sow.

"Uh...honey? What about your other teammate?"

The way Sakura pulled a 180 from perky to annoyed was a bit disturbing. "That dobe Naruto is just a third wheel on this team. He'll only get in Sasuke-kun's way. He shouldn't even be a ninja..." She would have continued on, but she was interrupted by the most unlikely person, her mother.

Sanae looked absoultley furious. She had sat there and listened while her daughter repeated all of the vile rumors that were spread about the Uzumaki boy, and it ripped her heart to shreds each time. She knew the boy personally, and found him to be one of the sweetest people she'd ever known, if a not a total innocent.

"Sakura...That boy has done nothing to you but be kind and courteous to you and your classmates, but you constantly cut him down. I've heard of some of your more violent outbursts against him, and I must say that I am VERY disappointed in you. You just blindly followed along with whatever your friends hear from their parents, who have no idea who that poor boy REALLY is. I met him once, and I must say that he is a very sweet and kind boy."

Sakura was struck dumb. Her mother had berated her for her treatment of the dobe, AGAIN. It took her a moment to get her bearings before she tried to mount a defense.

"B-but, Sasuke-kun is the rookie of the year, from a famous and wealthy clan, skilled, handsome, and the village loves him. While that baka is dumb, dead last, and a worthless and poor orphan whose parents didn't even want him..." She started to rant, but didn't realize that her mouth would get her into so much trouble as she was slapped.

"Can you hear yourself, my dear? What has the Uchiha done that was so great? The only reason why he is so skilled is because he has teachers and others bending over backwards and tripping over themselves to help him, while the Uzumaki has had to learn everything on his own with no one to help him." Her father spoke this time.

After this discussion wound down and they ate dinner, Sakura took a bath and headed for bed. As she let her consciousness slip, Inner Sakura took the opportunity to speak with her.

_**"NOW do you see? Even mom and dad told you to be nicer to him. They know more about him than you do and YOU see him everyday."**_ She admonished.

Sakura wasn't in a very good mood from being scolded by her parents. _"Shut up!! This is that baka's fault! He got me yelled at by my parents!"_

_**"UUGGHH...God, you are so dense!! I'm ashamed to be apart of you..." **_She sighed in disgust.

"Mmmm...Naruto-baka..." She grumbled in her sleep as her parents listened in.

"I can't believe that this village's blind hatred has gotten to our little girl..." Sanae whispered while she hugged herself. "What can we do?"

Her husband placed a hand on her shoulder. "I...I don't know. The most we can do is wait and pray that this is just a phase she's going through. If this continues on, I don't know what we can do..."

_**NARUTO'S APARTMENT 1720 HRS**_

Ichigo got Naruto into his apartment, laid him down on his bed, and went home. He couldn't believe how callously the boy was treated by his peers. The hatred their parents had for him had infected their children, as well. It was the same intolerance that he and Shiina had to contend with in the past, and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

He thought back to an hour ago, when he met with Naruto's Jounin sensei, Kakashi Hatake. He had heard of his reputation as an outstanding shinobi, but from what he saw of the records from when his ANBU team took up guarding Naruto, he held a deep dislike for the famous copy-nin.

_**FLASHBACK : ONE HOUR AGO IN THE HOKAGE'S OFFICE**_

_Sarutobi and Ichigo had just gotten through going over some records on a certain team's mission. Said mission was for an ANBU squad to watch over and protect Naruto, but their performace was pitiful and reeked of foul play. It seemed like Naruto was led into ambushes and they sat there and did nothing. _

_Inoichi had been called in to check on Naruto's mental state, and after a brief jog through Naruto's memories he was satisfied. However, he was highly upset when he came out. Ichigo asked him what was wrong and Inoichi told him about what his daughter had done, again._

_They continued to discuss what happened after Ichigo knocked Naruto out when Kakashi walked into the office._

_"What's wrong with Naruto?" He asked in an annoyed voice. The eyes of the three other men in the room hardened at his tone. _

_"He was assualted by his peers, and in turn provoked the Kyuubi into responding." Ichigo spoke out in a low growl. He spun around and looked Kakashi in the eye studying him carefully._

_Kakashi finally got annoyed. "What?"_

_Ichigo backed off and began to pace in front of him. "I read your file, Kakashi. Genin at 6, Chunnin at 10, Jounin at 12, and ANBU Captain at 14. Very impressive." He noted idly._

_"I'm not following what Naruto's condition has to do with me."_

_"Hold on...I'm getting to that. I have the files and reports on a certain mission your team and yourself had in you ANBU days right here. To guard a certain boy, Naruto here. Surely, an elite ninja such as yourself should have been able to thwart SOME attacks on the boy by civilians and lower level Chuunins, right?" He added, waving the file folder in front of him. _

_This made the Copy-nin's visible eye go wide with shock. It was like being on a board of inquiry. This Jounin he had never seen before was grilling him on the Naruto Protection missions. "Wha...how...who..." He stammered out before being cut off by a harsh gesture by Ichigo._

_"WHO I am is not important right now and should be the least of your concerns. As for how? Hokage-sama was kind enough to allow me time and access to puruse these documents. How very interesting..." He quipped, fitting the Copy-nin with a gimlet eye._

_"It seems as though your team actually led the boy INTO ambushes and WATCHED while the beatings happened. They stopped the assailants just short of killing him as to not bring the Hokage's wrath down upon themselves. Where were you when all of this happened?"_

_Kakashi knew then and there he was caught. "I...I was at the memorial stone..." He uttered. He now realized that he made a grave mistake, one that should not have happened, and Naruto had to pay the price for it._

_Ichigo knew from his file why he would be there. "Your teammates...Rin and Obito, right?" He asked in a more understanding tone._

_Kakashi's head bowed further. "Yeah..."_

_Ichigo sighed. "I understand the pain of your loss, but to allow it to hamper your performance so badly that an innocent boy has been all but tortured to death on your watch is completely unacceptible. This lapse in judgement nearly cost that boy his life and betrayed the trust Hokage-sama and the Yondaime placed in you. He trusted you, his remaining student, to watch over this boy and you betrayed him." He scowled at Kakashi. _

_This served to raise Kakashi's ire. "What do you know about pain?" He snarled at the tall blonde. "You're just an outsider...Who fell into Hokage-sama's good graces. You know NOTHING of the pain and suffering..."_

_Sarutobi had heard enough. "HATAKE, ENOUGH!!!" The elderly Hokage barked out, seething with anger at the insolence of the Copy Ninja. "This young man knows more about pain and suffereing than anyone save Naruto! His enitre WORLD was ripped from him, as well as his wife and children! Furthermore, he did not 'fall' into my good graces. Do not insult me in such a manner ever again. I have known this young man for many years and is a person that I trust completely. He has acted as thus out of concern for Naruto, which very few have ever done, to my eternal shame."_

_Kakashi had never seen the Sandaime this angry since the night of the Kyuubi attack, when the council tried to execute Naruto. He felt that discretion was the better part of valor and swallowed his rage. "Hokage-sama, I apologize for my outburst. I was out of line with my comments. Good day, sir." He said curtly as he walked towards the door. He paused for a moment as he opened the door. "Tell Naruto to come to Training Ground 7 at 0600 tomorrow morning." He told Ichigo, then walked out the door._

_As he left, all three men let out a collective sigh. Ichigo shook his head, _

_"This isn't gonna go over very well, is it?" He muttered._

_Inoichi nodded and agreed with him. "I know, but it had to be have had it far worse that him, but took it much better. Take you and Naruto for examples. He, however, continuously skips out on his counciling sessions."_

_Sarutobi cleared his throat to get their attention. "I believe we should see to Naruto and the status of the seal. Ichigo..." He turned toward the younger blonde._

_"Yes, sir." He replied with crisp professionalism._

_"I would like you to test the state of the seal with Inoichi. In short, you'll be going in with him as an insurance policy against the Kyuubi."_

_He nodded. 'I'll get to see Saki again!' He thought gleefully as Inoichi made his preperations for his mind jutsu. After a moment, they were ready. With a nod toward each other, they jumped into the seal._

_They landed in front of the massive gate that was the demon's prison. They saw Naruto lying on a sort of red furry pillow just inside the gate. They made a move toward him, but a blast of energy forced them back._

_They heard growling coming from inside the bars and they looked up to see the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune herself glowering down at them. Ichigo knew he had nothing to fear and he calmed down Inoichi as he walked up to the demoness calmly. "Saki...It's me, Ichigo." _

_The demoness stopped growling almost instantly and it began to glow and shrink. The glow died down to reveal a very beautiful woman with crimson hair and eyes, with nine tails and red fox ears, who was smiling sadly at him. "Ichigo-kun...Good..." She sighed in relief. "I really don't know what would have happened if you hadn't put a stop to what was happening. That much demonic chakra in him at one time could have killed him." She mentioned._

_"I'm just glad that we stopped him before he did something he would have regretted. I'll just work with him on his anger..." Ichigo said before Inoichi interjected._

_"If you want, you could send him to me for counciling sessions. I told you before that I'm also a therapist and I am better suited for these sorts of things." He reasoned._

_Ichigo and Saki thought it over for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Alright..." Ichigo replied as they went over the finer details. Soon, they left the seal. _

_The blonde duo relayed the decsicion to Sarutobi and set up the first session to be in a week. After that, Ichigo picked up Naruto and took him home._

_**FLASHBACK END**_

Ichigo looked back down at his last living descendant and sighed. "This village is a real messed up place, y'know that, kiddo?" He muttered as he stood up, made a note for Naruto, telling him about the next day, what he had to do, the counciling sessions and that if he had any questions, just come on over and he'll explain if he could.

_**APRIL 18TH NARUTO'S APARTMENT 0515 HRS**_

Naruto woke up slowly and held his gut in his hands. He felt like somebody rammed an electrified battering ram into his gut as he got up and read the note that was left for him. It explained what he had to do and why he did it, along with what his new sensei had in store for him.

He wanted to question the taller blonde about it but he was gone already, the note on the door saying that he had a patrol mission that morning and he would be back later that day. Sighing, he showered up and ran off to the specified training ground to meet his team. Little did he know, that he was in for one hell of a day, again.

_**TRAINING GROUND #7 0555 HRS**_

Naruto stumbled into the training area with a few minutes to spare when he spotted two other people there. _'Hmmm...They might be my new teammates!' _He thought excitedly as he ran over to them. However, his euphoria died almost instantly as he saw who his teammates were.

His sentiments were mirrored by his new teammates, Sakura and Sasuke, who felt that his mere presense was an annoyance and a burden, an unwanted one. Sasuke believed that Naruto wasn't worthy of breathing the same air as him and Sakura just followed along blindly.

_'Hmph. Those two deserve each other.'_ He thought sourly as he sat down and went through a meditation excersice that Ichigo taught to him to teach him focus and was trying to ignore the glares that they sent his way.

They ended up waiting for three hours until an explosion of smoke signified the arrival of their sensei. "YOU'RE LATE!!" Sakura yelled at him.

Kakashi at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry about that. I just got lost of the road of life." He told them.

_'What a load of crap...'_ Naruto thought as he brought himself out of his meditative state and back to reality. Kakashi noticed him sittling in the lotus position and was taking in the Genin before him until Naruto spoke up first. "What?"

"You must be Naruto Uzumaki, the third member of this team." He spoke out loud. "We already did introductions yesterday while you were talking with Hokage-sama, but if you want, you can do yours now."

Naruto looked around and could already guess that they really wouldn't care, but he sighed and introduced himself anyway. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and hanging out with my new neighbor, who teaches me all kinds of neat things and is actually nice to me. I don't like short-sighted and closed minded people, arrogance, and people who look down on others for reasons beyond their control. My dream is to become the strongest shinobi I can be, showing everyone that I'm worth something and to make my new friend proud."

Sasuke and Sakura had just blown him off and Kakashi had his nose buried in his smut book. Naruto couldn't believe how rude they were. "HELLO?" He called out loudly. Kakashi snapped out of his reading, "Oh. You're done? Good, now we can get to the test." He said, pulling out two bells. He explained that they had to get the bells from him by any means nesscessary. They had until noon to get them and the one who didn't get a bell would be tied to a stump and not be given any lunch.

Naruto was about to launch himself at Kakashi, but held back, remembering what Ichigo told him of studying his opponents carefully. As Kakashi told them to start, Sasuke and Sakura hid, but Naruto stayed and surveyed the Copy-Nin carefully. "You know, Naruto, most people would hide to do what you're doing." He commented.

"Yeah, and? I'm not most people, I'm me, no one else. Didn't you hear me earlier?" Was his reply.

"Well? Don't you want the bells?" He taunted.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't, but I'm not stupid enough to attack you without a plan."

"Well, you'd better come up with one quick, then."

Naruto gave him an almost evil smile. "Who's to say I don't already have one?" He countered.

Kakashi really didn't like what he was seeing so he took the iniative and attacked. His attack hit home, but Naruto just poofed out of existence. Kakashi was shocked. _'Kage Bunshin?! How?!'_ He gasped inwardly. A scant second later, scores of clones popped out of the ground under him like demented daisies, latching on to the Jounin to slow him down so that the real Naruto could sneak in and grab a bell. He silently thanked Ichigo for teaching him to be patient and use his head for once.

Unfortunately, Kakashi was a Jounin for a reason, as he quickly figured out what Naruto had planned. He seeped into the ground to shake off the clones that had latched on and popped out elsewhere. Then he began to slaughter the clones wholesale. Dispite how well he learned from Ichigo during the past week, he could only improve so much. His taijutsu was pathetic compared to that of the Jounin's, but he kept at it. After a few minutes, Kakashi finally scored a solid hit to the head and took Naruto down, HARD.

Kakashi now turned his attention to the other two Genin and began to stalk them. Sasuke watched the whole affair with a jealous gaze. _'Those were SOLID clones, not just illusions! How the hell did that idiot weakling get such a jutsu and not me?!'_ He seethed with anger.

In the meantime, Naruto stirred and began to recover. _"OOOHHH...That really hurt." _He commented.

_**"Of course that hurt, he's a Jounin. Naruto-kun, I think that the key to this test is teamwork. I know that you won't like it, but try to at least give it a shot."**_ Saki advised.

Naruto thought for a moment, then nodded. _"Alright, I'll try but just for the record, they're more likely to attack me than cooperate."_ He replied as he brought himself back to the real world. In the distance, he heard a scream that he knew was Sakura, so he headed there first.

When he reached her, he made some Shadow Clones to scout around for Kakashi and keep him at bay if it came down to it. He felt a faint chakra residue around her that he recognised as the aftermath of a Genjutsu. He concentraited a bit of chakra into a ram seal and barked out _**"KAI!"**_ As he broke the genjutsu the pink haired girl was under. She stirred and woke up. "Sasuke-kun?" She asked groggily until the world came into focus and she saw the golden haired boy.

"NARUTO-BAKA!!!" She yelled at she threw a punch at him, just for him to deflect it away from him and throw her off balance. "So...this is how you thank me for releasing you from that Genjutsu. I wanted to ask you and Sasuke if you guys wanted to team up on Kakashi-sensei and work together to get the bells."

"Ha! As if we would lower ourselves to working with the dobe." She sneered at him.

"The object of this test is teamwork. You should have figured that out by now. He's trying to divide us and make us work against each other..." He tried to tell her, but she wasn't listening.

"Shut up, Naruto! Me and Sasuke-kun are gonna pass and you are going back to the academy!" She hollered as she ran off to find Sasuke.

"Damn it..." He muttered. "They just won't listen to me." He added as he got up to find Sasuke. As luck would have it, one of his patrolling clones had stumbled upon the Emo-jerk no more than 300 yards away from him and Kakashi was no where in the immeadiate area.

When he got to Sasuke, un-buried him and brought Sakura back around for a second time, he ran his teamwork idea by him just to have it sneered at. "Why should I work with losers like the two of you?" He told them coldly, mainly glaring at Sakura.

Naruto sighed and shook his head. "At least I tried." He commented to no one in particular as he calmly walked off toward the clearing to try and draw Kakashi out.

Sarutobi was watching the whole thing from his crystal ball in his office and was not impressed with Team 7. _'Naruto, the dead last, figured out the meaning behind the test and tried to cooperate with his teammates, but they blew him off, Sasuke because of his arrogance and pride, and Sakura just following along blindly. This is already starting to look like the team that I taught, the Sannin, and not for the better.'_ The old Hokage thought darkly as he remembered how the Sannin turned out.

Back at the training grounds, a Jounin with similar sentiments was watching the drama unfold. _'Those brats haven't learned their lesson yet...'_ He growled in his mind as he focused on the rest of the exam.

The alloted time had elapsed and the Genin assembled in front of Kakashi. He chastized Naruto for fighting him solo, but not the Uchiha. He criticized him for not cooperating with Sasuke and Sakura, not the other way around. Naruto was tied to a post in the middle of the field and was forced to watch the others eat while Kakashi walked off somewhere, but he told them that Naruto was not to be fed or they would fail.

Sakura sat there in front of a hungry Naruto, gingerly eating her lunch when she heard Naruto's stomach grumble loudly and saw him grimace. Inner Sakura took the opportunity to speak to her. _**"That didn't sound good. It sounded like he hadn't eaten in a while, nevermind breakfast."**_ She commented.

_"Whatever. I'm not failing just because that loser can't afford to eat properly."_ Fan Girl Sakura countered.

Inner Sakura seethed with anger but thought of something. _**"Hey...C'mere..."**_ She said, pulling in and temorarily restraining her annoying main ego and gaining control.

Naruto noticed that Sakura got up, looked around and held up a piece of her shrimp to Naruto for him to eat something. Sasuke saw this and lashed out. "Don't feed him! I'm not going to fail just because of that dobe!"

"We need him to have more energy if we're going to stand a chance against Kakashi-sensei! We can't do it alone!" She countered.

Sasuke thought for a moment, and relented. "Fine. Here." He spat, thrusting the food into his face.

As he did that, Kakashi appeared in front of them, telling them that they passed the test and gave Sasuke the credit for figuring it out. Both Inner Sakura and Ichigo had similar thoughts. _'That bastard!! He's taking all the credit for something he didn't do!!'_

Naruto was confused by Sakura's actions. First she treated him like a plague, but then she feeds him and helps him out. Saki, however, he a good idea of what just happened. _**'That girl...She has a split personality. One that doesn't seem to mind the kit and doesn't like that Uchiha all that much.'**_She deduced.

Kakashi had just wrapped up his little speech by telling them when and where to meet and dubbed them Team 7. He then poofed away to parts unknown, leaving Naruto tied to the post. Sasuke got up and got in Sakura's face, just as Inner Sakura lost control and the Fan Girl persona took over again. "You stupid girl...you nearly cost me my chance to avenge my family..." He snarled as he raised his hand to slap her.

Suddenly, a jet of water from the nearly creek shot out and nailed the raven-haired boy just before the blow struck. Sakura looked around to see the source of the jutsu, just to see the Jounin from yesterday with his gloved hand held out and glaring at the stunned Uchiha.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He growled as he walked toward the stump that Naruto was tied to and snapped his fingers. As he did that, the ropes looked like they were slashed with an invisible knife and fell away to free the young blonde boy.

This got everyone's attention. _'He used a jutsu without handseals! I must have that ability!'_ Sasuke clamored. "Hey, you...teach me that."

"Teach you what?"

"How you did that. You used a jutsu without handseals or even thinking about it. I must have that power..." He demanded.

" I can't teach anybody to wield this power and even if I could, I wouldn't teach someone who would strike and abandon his teammates in cold blood." He stated simply, but with an edge to his tone.

This got Sasuke's dander up and his pride stung. "I said teach me!!" He roared as he struck out at the tall blonde Jounin, just to be caught by his throat and lifted higher. "Bad idea, kid." He muttered.

Sakura snapped out of he daze just in time to plead for Sasuke. "Don't hurt Sasuke-kun! Please don't! He didn't mean it!"

Ichigo was dumbfounded. This guy was ready to deck her, but she still pleads for him. _'This is sick.'_ He dropped Sasuke, but the boy wasn't finished yet. He ran through handseals and called out his jutsu. _**"KATON : GOUKAKYU NO JUTSU!!"**_ He barked out as he spat a huge fireball at the tall man. He was about to dodge, but he noticed that Naruto and Sakura were still behind him. "Damn..." He growled.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned a shield of water around them to protect them from the blazing heat. As the fireball died down, he vanished from view and appeard behind the wannabe avenger with his short blade drawn across his throat. "You could have killed you teammates, you little bastard." He snarled in a calm, yet still fierce manner.

Sakura was again stunned by what this odd man had accomplished. _'No handseals or windup...just execution. Who IS he?'_

Naruto had a different frame of mind. He had seen Ichigo do this before, but it still amazed him every time he saw it. "Thanks for the save, Ichigo-san."

Ichigo nodded and swiftly knocked out the boy and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "You two, go home. I'm taking him to your sensei for a little chat." He ordered them in a tone that demanded compliance. They nodded as he vanished in a swirl of water, taking their violent teammate with him.

Naruto turned and began to walk home until Sakura stopped him. "Naruto...Do you know him or something?"

Naruto paused and thought for a moment. "Yeah. He's my next door neighbor. He moved in a week ago, but he's actually kinda cool to hang around with. He likes to teach me stuff, basic stuff like meditation, some basic grappling and taijutsu and a little chakra control. Everyday, after kicking my butt into shape, he treats me to some ramen at Ichiraku's. He's a real nice guy and wouldn't hurt anyone without a good reason." He replied, obviously proud to know him. He continued on his way home.

The pink-haired girl just stood in silence for a moment before moving. Sasuke's actions gave her more to think about. This was the second time he nearly hit her intentionally and now he nearly killed her. She decided to just put it out of her mind as she trudged home.

_A/N: Done and done. Sakura's family is such a blank page that anyone with any imagination could come up with something and make it work. As for the pink haired girl herself, I believe her condition is referred to as Battered Wife Syndrome. It's a sad sight in real life and the people who take advantage of someone in such a vulerable state are truly sick people. As for Naruto's new intelligence, it's always been there. He just needed someone patient enought to help him bring it out and use it more often. A little encouragement can go a LONG way._


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5 up and running! Sorry about the short length of this chapter, but it was a nesscessity. This is meant to pass some time until we get down to bigger, better things. Enough from me, let get on with it!!!_

_**MEMORIAL STONE 1437 HRS. **_

Ichigo arrived at the Memorial stone with a burst of water announcing it. He spotted Kakashi reading his orange smut book while looking at the stone and walked up to him. "I thought I'd find you here, Hatake." He called out in a neutral tone that made Kakashi turn around. Ichigo dropped Sasuke on the ground roughly with the Copy-Nin get slightly angry that someone manhandled one of his students.

He was about to berate the slightly taller blonde man, but said blonde beat him to it. "He attacked his teammates with a fire jutsu, stating that they nearly cost him his chance at revenge."

He saw that Kakashi was hardly paying any attention to him, then added in that Sakura and Naruto were hurt to test his reaction, to which there was none. He was only concerned with Sasuke's well being as he got mad at him for hurting the Uchiha prodigy. "I only knocked him unconscious and brought him here to you, the sensei, for punishment."

"Just leave him to me and go. My team doesn't concern you." He replied coldly as he picked up the brooding jackass and flickered away to the Hospital.

"He doesn't even care for his other students as long as he had that Uchiha brat...That bastard..." He snarled in rage, but quickly calmed down and went back into town to grab some sake. _'I'll need it.'_

_**TEA STREET, DOWNTOWN KONOHA 1527 HRS.**_

Anko Mitarashi had just slammed down her third bottle of sake as she gasped. "AAH, HA HA! That hit the spot!" She whooped as she reached for another stick of dango. Across the bar, a somewhat intoxicated man sauntered up to her at the bar. "Heeey, babe." He drawled drunkenly.

Anko tried her best to ignore the man, but his sake breath and lack of personal hygiene made that kind of hard to do as he kept pestering her. "Awww, come on...don'cha wanna have a drink with me?"

"." She snarled, her patience at it's end. He attempted to reach out and glomp her, but a hand shot out and clamped down on his shoulder, HARD, making his knees buckle.

A tall blonde man made his presense known. "Move." Was his simple statement, but his gaze was packed with killer intent, causing the man to sober up almost instantly while pissing himself. The man scrambled back to the corner he crawled out of while Ichigo took a seat at the bar next to her.

She studied him for a moment. She noted that he looked similar to the Fourth, damn similar, but brushed that aside for now as she spoke to him. "I could have handled that."

He merely shrugged and replied, "He was in my way and I wanted a drink."

She smirked at his response. _'Very blunt and to the point...I like that and the way he made that guy piss himself just by looking at him was priceless!'_ "Never seen you around before. Name's Anko. Anko Mitarashi. What's yours?"

He studied her for a moment and replied. "Ichigo Suzumiya. I just got here last week." He answered her simply as he ordered some sake and pork dumplings for himself.

The Snake Mistress eyed his hardware, _'A ninjato of some kind and a kodachi? He's a kenjutsu user, I'd say, but his build is more like a taijutsu user...Might as well talk some more. He seems interesting."_ She reasoned. "So, where did you come from?"

"Nowhere, really. Just wandered here and there, picking up things as I went along. I finally wound up here and applied for a shinobi position, and got the rank of Jounin. The old man asked me to look after a kid named Naruto."

This got Anko's attention. She was a member of one of Naruto's protection squads, and she grew kind of attached to the little runt. He was just like her, shunned and hated, except people were trying to kill him. She always got on edge whenever his well being was brought into a conversation. She decided to listen a little more before deciding what to do.

Ichigo sighed loudly. _'Can't tell her the truth...'_ He reasoned, but thought of a way around it. "Poor kid. I know exactly what he is, but that's no excuse to treat him the way he was treated. It reminded me of myself when I was younger. I was treated like a freak because of my unusual abilities." He mentioned, his expression crestfallen and hazed with pain.

"I know who you're talking about. I used to be a member of his protection detail some years back. Even when I was hidden, he could still find me and wave at me. Once, he even brought me a flower to say thank you for being nice to him. He's a pretty sweet kid." She chuckled as she recalled those times, as well as the times she rocked him to sleep when he had his nightmares.

Ichigo chuckled a bit himself and he drained a bit of the sake from his recently served bottle. "Yeah...He's a pretty cool kid. He spotted me training one day and threw these puppy dog eyes at me, asking me to teach him something." He laughed, but continued. "I taught him some basic grappling, meditation, and chakra control exersizes. I swear that kid soaked that stuff up like a sponge. I was shocked to find out that he was the dead last in his class, but that set off a red flag to me. If he were that fast a learner, what the hell has the Academy been doing with him?"

Anko couldn't help but wonder herself. She knew that they tried to bar him from entering the Academy, but she never thought that they would stoop so low as to sabotage his education. "Those bastards...they sabotaged his training." She concluded.

"Bingo. He's graduated from there now and on a team, but the sensei leaves a lot to be desired."

"Whose the sensei?

"Kakashi Hatake."

Anko froze as she heard that name. She remembered how it was Kakashi's ANBU team that relieved hers, and that was when the attacks started again. _'As if that wasn't bad enough, now that cycloptic bastard is his Jounin sensei?!'_ She thought. "What about his team?" She asked, almost afraid of his answer.

"Some fangirl named Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."

Anko let a small growl escape her throat. She had caught many Uchiha trying to harm Naruto, and now he had one on his team. Top that off with an Uchiha fangirl and that asshole who LET him get beaten and almost killed and you've got a recipe for disaster.

This wasn't missed by Ichigo as he gulped down a pork dumpling. "Yeah. That's how I feel. That little turd tried to fry Naruto while Kakashi left him tied to a post earlier. I cut him free, knocked out the Uchiha and brought him to Kakashi for some justice, but what does he do?"

"He let's the brat off easy, right?"

Ichigo smirked. He liked her. She was sharp as a razor and she was just as protective of Naruto as he was, so that made her okay in his book. "Right. I was so pissed off, that I came here to cool down." He related to her as he continued to chow down on his food. The two made small talk and talked shop for a bit. He learned a bit about her. She was a Tokubetsu Jounin, 24 years old, the same as him and this bar was a favorite haunt of hers. He gathered that she had a rather sordid past, so he let it slide. Everyone has a secret or two.

It was beginning to get late and Ichigo was getting worried about Naruto. "I'd better get going. I'll see you around sometime, Anko."

"Sure thing. See ya later, Ichigo."

Goodbyes said, the tall man left the bar and headed for home. Just as he left one of her friends, Kurenai Yuuhi, came walking into the bar. "Hey Anko." The crimson eyed kunoichi called out.

"Ah! Kure-chan!" She greeted enthusiastically. "So, how is it leading a group of brats so far?"

Kurenai heaved out a tired and haggard sigh. "One's almost a mute, one is a total horndog and the kunoichi is the most timid little thing I've ever met. If it weren't for the eyes, I'd swear she wasn't a Hyuuga."

"Wow. Sounds like a real dream team you've got there." Anko quipped playfully.

Kurenai wanted to change gears. "So, who was that guy you were talking with?"

Anko sighed and looked around before answering. She was sure that she could trust Kurenai with this information. "You remember how I was part of the Uzumaki kid's guard team, right?"

Kurenai was stunned by the serious tone Anko was using, but she nodded as she remembered. "He was assigned to protect the kid, and from the looks of the team Naruto was dealt, he's gonna have his work cut out for him."

Kurenai shuddered as she remembered when that recieved their team assignments. Kakashi is his jounin sensei. The same Kakashi that nearly let Naruto be killed on his watch several times. Then there was that Uchiha boy and his fangirl of a teammate. This only compounded Naruto's problems. She had a sinking feeling that Kakashi was going to make the same mistake that the Sandaime made with his own team. She had studied on how to be a sensei and read up on the Sandaime's team and heard about it from Asuma, how the old Hokage still blames himself for how the team ended up. He favored Orochimaru over his other students because he was a genius. It looked like Kakashi was going to repeat that mistake.

"Those three will be a serious problem. He made contact with him and is trying to teach him some things because he knows that Kakashi won't teach him squat. That Uchiha kid will get jealous of every little thing and that Haruno girl will be like his personal cheerleader, making things worse." Anko confided in her friend, in an almost desperate tone.

Kurenai knew that her friend was attached to the Uzumaki boy to an extent, almost like a sibling. Kurenai watched the boy one day and saw the kind of treatment he endured. It sickened her to say the least, but she was shocked to see that he let it all slide right off of him, putting up a strong front to show them that they weren't getting to him. She was also hoping that she would get him on her team, but it didn't pan out that way. She also disliked Kakashi for a few reasons of her own. He read that smut book unabashedly in public, was tardy to everything and just seemed lazy.

The two kunoichi just sat and talked for awhile like they usually did, then parted ways. Before hitting the hay for the night, she wished Ichigo luck that he would most definately need, and wished for Naruto's safety. She couldn't figure out when it happened or how, but that little blonde ball of mischief and energy had wormed his way into her heart.

_A/N: Fifth chapter done and over with. Now, I'm getting ready for my surgery in a few days, but right afterwards, I'll be on 30 days worth of paid medical leave so I'll have more time to write! Being in the service actually pays off once in a while! Until next time!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey all! I managed to eek out this chapter before going in for my surgury, which is happening this upcoming Tuesday. I'll be a guest of Naval Hospital Lemoore's hospitality for a couple of days, then released to go home, which is on base anyway. Just so you know, I have many chapters written in advance, but I try to fine tune them before I release them so that you all get the most enjoyment from them as possible. To answer Dragon Man 180's suggestion, I'm sorry, but I already have Wave mission planned out, but I think you might like what I have in store, too. In this chapter, I wanted to jump ahead a couple of months and have 'ol Ichigo solve a few problems and work on that Naru/Hina I mentioned. I hope that you all like it! **ON WITH THE FIC!!!**_

_**TIMESKIP AUGUST 19TH **_

Three months had come and gone since Ichigo arrived and began his watch over the young jinchuuriki. Things with Team 7 were exasperating at best. The usual routine was that Kakashi would have them perform a mission then disappear for the day and the cycle would repeat itself.

He continued to give Naruto a helping hand in secret, teaching him helpful little taijutsu tricks or helping him with his control. He started to do this more regularly when he found that Kakashi was giving Sasuke special training and attention. He felt uneasy when he thought about how Naruto would be if he hadn't come when he did, but pushed it aside.

Naruto asked him if he could include Sakura in on the training, but the pink-haired girl refused, opting to instead watch the Uchiha train and fawn over him. Ichigo shook his head in exasperation.

"Naruto, remember this...You tried to help your teammate, but she refused to be helped. If she gets hurt because she wants to play damsel in distress, it won't be your fault." He told him seriously.

Ichigo and Anko had started to hang out and became good friends. He needed a friendly face his own age and she needed another solid friend outside of her job besides Kurenai and Ibiki. He found himself somewhat attracted to her straightforwardness and honesty, as well as a good sense of humor. In all honesty, Anko reminded him of his Shiina so much that it hurt. He felt like he was betraying her somehow. She liked his humor and good-nature, including the time he pranked Kakashi's team by transforming into Kakashi wearing one of Gai's suits that was a little too small for him in the crotch area, screaming about youth and making them run right through the middle of the village right behind him. They still, however, wouldn't tell each other the whole truth. He got acquainted with Kurenai and Asuma through her and gained a few more friends.

Through Kurenai, he met Team 8 and it members. His first impression of Kiba was that he was just a normal boy his age mentality wise, if not a bit of a horndog. Shino was so silent that it was easy to forget he was even there. Hinata had already met him before, but she was always very shy and had trouble speaking her mind. This concerned him a bit, as it just wasn't normal for a girl so young to be so subdued. Even on the surface, he could tell that something was very wrong.

One day, he asked Kurenai about her family and the crimson-eyed kunoichi sighed heavily, confirming Ichigo's suspicions about a bad home life. She told him about how Hiashi Hyuuga, her father, had all but abandoned her as clan heir, giving the position to her younger sister, Hanabi. The politics of the clan were somewhat complex, but that still did not excuse what had been done to the girl's confidence. However, he was now more dedicated than ever to repaying his debt to Guren, one of the people who set him free.

After one of Team 8's training days were over, he walked up to the Hyuuga heir. "Oh, Hinata-chan. Pleasure to see you this fine afternoon." He called to her cordially. Said girl squeaked in surprize, but she turned and bowed politely.

"H-Hello, I-Ichigo-san." She stuttered shyly. "H-H-How are you, t-today?"

"Oh, I'm doing alright. Say, would you mind talking a small stroll with me through the village? I can tell something's bothering you, and maybe I can help?"

She looked dubiously at the offer, but decided that it couldn't hurt. He seemed friendly and she might get some good advice. "O-Okay." She replied as they made their way down Tea Street, the hub of commerce in the village. He remembered from a conversation with Kurenai that she loved Cinnamon Rolls, so be casually steered them toward a bakery. He sniffed the air innocently. "Mmmm...Smells nice. Hold on a moment, Hina-chan!" She asked her as he bolted inside.

A moment later, he came back out with two rolls, one for him and one for her, directing her to a bench nearby. "Now, would you mind telling me?"

Hinata sighed, sucked in a deep breath, and began to spill some of her story, like how she is treated at home and her life in general. Afterwards, she looked tired and older, more so than any child her age should be.

Ichigo mulled over what he learned as he munched on his roll, aside from the fact that he wished he had some milk to go with it. _'So...Instead of facing the facts and acting like a father, he just dumps the blame for all his troubles on her. That pompous ass...'_ He thought darkly, but remembered that the girl had a crush on his descendant. He talked to her about it and learned that she stayed her own hand out of fear of her father and watched Naruto from a distance.

He encouraged the young girl to tell Naruto of her feelings, even just a little at first. Over the course of 3 months, shen started to let herself be known to him little by little. A conversation here, an Ichiraku trip there, all with Ichigo watching over them to make sure that nothing bad happened. Hinata's teammate, Kiba Inuzuka, saw what was going on and was quite unhappy with it. He felt that Hinata belonged to him and had become somewhat possessive over her. He saw them eating out at Ichiraku's one day and decided do go and break it up, along with Naruto's nose while he was at it.

As he was stomping down the street with a certain blonde on his hit list, he failed to notice that his sensei was watching the pair as well from across the street. Kurenai knew from the jealous look on Kiba's face what his intentions were. "Kiba. Stop right there." She called out.

The Inuzuka boy froze when he heard her voice, but kept his fear of her hidden as he turned around. "What is it, Kurenai-sensei?" He asked her, trying to stay civil.

"Where do you think you're going? Certainly not to break up an outing between friends over at Ichiraku's?"

"You're damn right I am! That stupid dobe has no right to be around Hinata like that! She belongs to me!" He snarled, forgetting just who he was talking to.

Kurenai couldn't believe what he just said. It was one of the most chauvinistic things she'd ever heard and she refused to hear anymore, but she did something that suprized even herself, she slapped the boy. "Kiba Inuzuka. What in the hell is wrong with you?! How dare you treat a female, let alone your own teammate, like an object?! We're going to have a good talk with your mother and sister about your views on women." The crimson eyed kunoichi told him as she dragged him toward the Inuzuka Compound.

Kiba was now scared out of his mind. Both his mother Tsume and sister Hana would turn him into a smear on the wall after they found out about what he was saying about women, his mother especially.

Moving on, Naruto was beginning to improve by leaps and bounds under the patient Ichigo. His taijutsu was now more stuctured due to Ichigo teaching him Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, and Jiujitsu. Ichigo was told about affinity cards by Anko, and she tested him herself. Naruto had wind and water affinities, just like Ichigo, making the towering blonde smile. This made training him in elemental manipulation that much easier, but Ichigo didn't know any jutsu, as he just made the water and wind to attack at his will. Anko, however, told him that she had it covered for water at least, as it was one of her affinities.

Wind was going to be trickier, because wind users were very rare. Sarutobi, however, pointed him towards his son, Asuma, who was a wind user. He didn't have to look far because Team 10 trained in a clearing not far from the one he and Naruto used themselves. One day, Ichigo decided to pay Team 10 a visit.

He appeared in front of them with a burst of water. Asuma wondered what he wanted, but Ichigo replied that he'd wait until they were done, but gave a greeting to Shikamaru, who replied back casually. "Asuma, I've got a favor to ask of you." He asked the bearded Jounin.

"And what do I get in return?" He asked.

Ichigo grinned. "I'll teach your team some of my taijutsu if you want, along with other skills of your choosing."

Asuma mulled the thought over for a moment, then answered. "Alright. What do you need?"

"I'd like for you to teach Naruto some Fuuton jutsu, just a few D-rank, maybe a C-rank if you feel comfortable..." He told him, explaining the situation with Kakashi and Sasuke, to which Asuma scowled. To him, playing favorites was almost criminal, and it seemed that Kakashi was bent on pampering that Uchiha brat along with the rest of the village. He was glad that someone wasn't doing that and trying to help the pariah who should have been seen as a hero.

"You've got a deal. I'd like for you to teach them some of your taijutsu and to talk Ino out of dieting. It's killing her slowly and all because of that Uchiha brat. I've tried and so has her father, but she just won't have it."

Ichigo took a quick look at the blonde girl and could tell that the early stages of Anorexia had set in. "She's so young, but...she looks so skinny." He said, his expression downcast. "I'll do it. I'll see if I can make her a little healthier and beef up your boys while I'm at it. Chouji has some confidence issues and Shikamaru needs to be motivated more. Ino's condition stems from confidence issues as well. I just haven't seen it a girl that young before. " He added sadly.

Asuma was amazed that he could tell all of this from watching them for a few moments, and that he intended to help make things right. But one question burned in his mind, thought. "Who are you, though? I've never really met you before." He asked.

Ichigo simply smiled. "Ask your father. Tell him that I trust you." He told him as he vanished in a whirlwind of water, to the surprize of the Genin.

Asuma was told the truth, somewhat, of Ichigo. He was told that Ichigo was an uncle of Naruto's that found out about the survival of his nephew and came back to the village to protect the last member of his family. The surname was just a camoflague so that he wouldn't attract attention. Asuma's respect for the man just rose a few more notches. His respect for Kakashi, however, took another blow after he found out that Kakashi was supposed to look after Naruto as per the wishes of the Yondaime, his sensei.

So far, Ichigo made good on his deal to help out. He was teaching Chouji how to grapple and how to better use his bulk to his advantage. For Shikamaru, he taught him Tai Chi Quan to correlate to his personality, maximum effect with minimal effort. Asuma held his end of the deal and taught Naruto a few D-rank jutsu, and a C-rank, the _**FUUTON : DAITOPPA**_, for toppling enemies and buying your team some time.

Ino was a different story. He tried to get her to stop dieting, but she rolled right back to the same argument that Sasuke liked skinny women. At his wits end, he went to Anko and Kurenai for advice on girls. That was when he had a stroke of genius.

Ichigo asked Ino to take a walk with him through the village. "Ino, what are the things that you want in a boyfriend? It's okay to be honest with me. I won't tell anyone, cross my heart." He told her with a gentle smile as he led her to a dango booth for a treat.

Ino had never been asked that before. She pondered the question for a moment then answered honestly. "Well...He'd have to be nice, funny, smile a lot, and like a girl for who she is inside."

He nodded his head. "Good...Now, if you would allow me another question? Which of these things does Sasuke embody?" He asked her honestly and softly, handing her a dango skewer.

She was struck speechless as she tried to justify her crush on the brooding boy who never smiled, never laughed or said anything kind to anyone. The blonde girl sat in silence for a few moments. "Ichigo-sensei...Could you walk me home? I...I need to think on some things."

"Sure, Ino-chan." He answered as he ordered a few skewers to go for her to take home with her. Upon reaching her house, he patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, Ino-chan. I know you'll figure this out." He added as he disappered in a burst of water.

A week later, she showed up to practice in a better mood and looking a little healthier. Asuma couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what happened so he asked Ichigo. The tall enigmatic blonde told him that Sasuke is now a thing of the past and that she has grown up a little more.

Ichigo showed up for their agreed training and Ino couldn't help but think about the conversation they had that one afternoon last week. She had come to the conclusion that Sasuke wasn't all that she made him out to be after tailing him and observing him without those rose-tinted glasses she had on before. He was rude, kind of snobbish, always frowned and glared at everyone.

Without even realizing it, she began to search for someone who embodied these traits and she came up with a few people who she never would have thought of. Her own teammates were two of them. She was mean and bossy to them, but they still lept to her defense when Sasuke insulted her.

Another was Naruto, she saw him always trying to help his teammates, just for them to brush him off. He even yelled at Sasuke for being mean to Sakura even though she was pretty mean to him herself.

The last one was the person who she believed set her free, Ichigo. He saved her from herself and her delusions and from ending up like Sakura might if Naruto weren't there to protect her, battered, abused, and alone. She also stopped her crash dieting, as she saw that it was beginning to hurt her, willing to believe that the boy who truly loves her would like her for who she REALLY is.

After training was over that day, she walked up to Ichigo and took him by the hand, dragging him off into town and back to the dango stand they were at the previous week. "Ichigo-sensei, I...did some thinking...about what you said and I wanted to say something to you..." She told him, beckoning him to lean down to her height. She then kissed him on his cheek and then threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you...thank you so much..." She choked out.

Ichigo was surprised by how the now former fan girl took his advice, but got down on one knee and hugged her gently, "You're very welcome." Passersby couldn't help but smile at the tender scene between the two. The girl continued to cry of a few more moments until she gave out to exhaustion. She had trained hard that day and it had caught up with her.

He gently scooped the girl into his arms and carried her back home. Inoichi nearly had a heart attack when he saw his little girl unconscious, but his fears were put to rest when Ichigo explained that she had a long day and was only tired. The two men took her up to her room and tucked her in for the day. Inoichi asked him to stick around until he could grab his coat. In the mean time, his wife Akari gave him some tea while he waited. She thanked him for what he did for her daughter. She struck up a conversation with the young man who she heard her husband mention a few times in the past month. She was told what Asuma was, that he was Naruto's uncle but kept it hidden to better protect the boy.

They talked about this and that until a very peculiar question came up. "Ichigo-kun, are you currently seeing any of our lucky ladies here in the village?" She asked curiously. The curious question nearly made him choke on his tea, but he told her that he wasn't. Right then and there, she secretly wished that they had an older daughter to introduce him to or that Ino was old enough to go after him instead of that ghastly Uchiha. He was saved from more embarrassing questions by Inoichi coming down the stairs, then the two headed out to a bar that he and his friends visited often.

The Nara and Akimichi heads were already there to Inoichi's surprize and they motioned them to their table. Chouza and Shikaku had wanted to meet the person who had a hand in increasing their children's self-confidence. The Nara head had never seen his boy so driven before and Chouza loved the self confidence his son was exuding now. Inoichi was the happiest of all. This young man had broken his daughter's self-destructive and protentially fatal tendencies and gave her a sense of self worth without the Uchiha brat.

Asuma found out about the details of their little heart to heart and was thankful that the girl will be fine from now on. As a thank you, he gave Naruto a small scroll with a couple of higher end wind jutsu, like the _**FUUTON : FUURYUDAN**_ and the _**REPPUSHOU**_, that would make the most of the blonde's massive chakra reserves.

Anko had taught him a few water jutsu that she knew, like the _**TEPPOUDAMA, MIZURAPPA, SUIRYUUDAN**_, and the _**SUIJINHEKI**_, she also worked with him on his throwing skills as well. In her exact words, "You couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a baseball bat as you are now, so I may as well beat some skill in to you." She also stressed the importance of not using his new skills in front of Kakashi or his team unless his life was in danger. They couldn't have Kakashi or Sasuke finding out about the extra training and raising a stink about it, as it would just bring on more headaches.

Team 7 was right now on their way to Hokage tower to receive their mission for the day, with a quiet Naruto in tow. He had since learned to stay silent and let his teammates make fools of themselves while he learned what made them tick and learned to predict what they would say or do.

Sakura was still clinging to her fangirl tendencies even after these past few months. She still tried to cling to Sasuke at every given opportunity, just for him to either shove her away, yell at her, or sometimes both. Naruto still tried to at least come to her defense even though his crush on her is long gone just because she was a teammate, only for her to yell or take a swing at him.

Sasuke had been receiving special training from Kakashi since the day they became Team 7. The copy-nin, thanks to his implanted Sharingan eye, had a massive arsenal of jutsu to teach the prodigal Uchiha, as well as taijutsu forms that he'd ripped off from various shinobi from Konoha and many other villages over the years, including that of one Maito Gai.

Ichigo had met the eccentric Jounin and his team a month after arriving. While the tall blonde was a bit weirded out by his mannerisms, he knew that Gai was a top-notch sensei by the way he treated all of his student fairly. The Hyuuga biy on his team, Neji, was the previous years Rookie of the Year was treated no differently than the dead last of the same class, Rock Lee. In fact, Lee was his presonal project. The boy couldn't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu to save his life, not due to the lack of talent but due to a rare condition in his Chakra Coils. The boy refused to give up and it caught Gai's attention. Now, Lee is practically a carbon copy of his sensei, who is teaching him all he knows about Taijutsu.

What really made Ichigo angry was the fact that Kakashi as good as stole all that hard work and effort and just handed it to Sasuke. The Goken style was sacred to Gai, his and his student's pride and joy. It should have been up to him to determine who learned it, not Kakashi. He had been watching everything that Team 7 did, Kakashi told Naruto to train his control and took Sasuke of to the side and trained him personally while Sakura watched and cheered. Naturally, this infuriated him and the Hokage too, when he filed his reports.

_**HOKAGE TOWER 0830 HRS**_

Team 7 entered the tower to receive another mission and proceeded to the Mission Hall. Kakashi greeted the Hokage and requested a mission of the day.

"Hmm...Weeding Mrs. Kurogane's garden, cleaning the Inuzuka kennels, babysitting triplets..." The Hokage rambled on as he sorted through the D-rank missions.

Naruto sighed audibly. _'Another boring D-rank? Aw man...'_ He lamented mentally, but was careful not to say it aloud. He really didn't want Sakura to start yelling this early in the morning.

Sasuke, however, scoffed at the lame picking that were laid before him. "I can't get stronger if we keep going on the lame missions. I need better missions if I'm going to activate my Sharingan." He scoffed.

Iruka was quick on the uptake. "You've only just graduated from the Academy three months ago! You need to complete D-ranks for a little while longer before you start asking for higher ranked ones." The school teacher admonished.

Kakashi didn't take the upbraiding of his prized student very well. "This is my team, _Chuunin_. I decide when they are ready, and I think we can handle a C-rank."

Sarutobi sighed heavily. "Very well." He relented. "Send in Tazuna." He ordered Iruka.

The man that walked through the Mission Hall doors was staggering drunk, at least in his late 50's, early 60's. "WHAT?! My life's gonna be in the hands of a bunch of snot-nosed brats?! I don't like the looks of 'em, especially that blonde runt." He blurted out.

Naruto was using every bit of self control he had to hold himself back from throttling the drunk old bastard. _'Calm down...Calm down...In with the good, out with the bad...'_ He thought to himself.

"Tazuna-san, I am a Jounin and Sasuke here is pretty good so I think you'll be safe with us." He reassured the old man, straining Naruto's patience even further.

They were given the details of the mission from the old man himself : To guard him from bandits and protect him while he finishes a bridge in his home country, the Land of Waves.

As they were dismissed to go make their preperations for the mission, Ichigo swung in through the window of the hall. "Ichigo, I trust you heard the details?" The old Hokage asked him.

"Yeah, I did."

"Good. Your mission will be to shadow them for the duration of the mission and submit a report back to me of what happened. I'll bounce that off of what Kakashi tells me. Leave out nothing and remain unseen and undetected. Only intervene if they are in danger of being wiped out. You will be temporarily instated in the ANBU for this, so go see the Quartermaster and receive your armor and mask." He ordered.

"Gotcha, sir. I'll head out and get my gear, then commence my mission. I'll make sure they all make it back." He replied, saluting then vanishing in a gust of wind. Sarutobi sank into his chair and lit his pipe. "Well now, Kakashi. Let's see how honest you are."

_A/N: Uh oh. Kakashi's gonna be in some deep shit if he keeps on going like he is. I felt that something like this needed a more Cloak and Dagger approach, and as for the insta-ANBU of Ichigo, I felt that the Hokage can do something like this if he needed to and that if he really wanted to protect Naruto, he'd pull out some of the stops and enable Ichigo to perform his mission easier. On another note, I know that he seems like a goody goody but this will all serve a purpose later. Building bonds of trust and friendship with the other sensei's can have a very profound and positive effect._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Here is chapter 7. That surgury took a lot out of me and I finished this up in my hospital room. I'm currently using the WiFi that the Base Hospital offers to upload this chapter, although its a very slow connection with limited bandwidth compared the the one at my house. Okay, here we are with the Wave Mission now in full swing. I'm sorry to Dragon Man 180 about your ideas, but they honestly sounded good. I have the Wave mission already planned out, but afterwards, it's still open for suggestions. The Naru/Hina action will go into full swing after he gets back from the mission and there will be a little Inner Sakura/Naruto during the mission. **_

_**Please, enjoy the fic.**_

_**ENROUTE TO WAVE COUNTRY 1205 HRS**_

Team 7 were on their way to Wave Country with Tazuna in tow. Sasuke was quiet the whole trip, either sulking or glancing around. Sakura divided her time between asking Tazuna questions and talking to Sasuke, who ignored her. Naruto was busy taking in the view, this being his first time this far outside the village walls. Kakashi, as usual, had his nose buried in his smut book, occasionally giggling perversely.

Ichigo was trailing them from a distance, but kept them in view. He stayed in the trees and kept his chakra hidden as best he could. His orders were quite clear : To observe Team 7's mechanics, Kakashi's leadership and training methods, and how well they handle themselves. He was not to reveal himself unless the team was in danger of being wiped out. Even then, he was to keep his identity a secret.

Apparently, the old man didn't trust Kakashi with Naruto's well being beyond the village's walls, if his past track records on the guard detail were any proof to that effect. Sarutobi believed that Kakashi would ignore him and further neglect his and Sakura's training just to concentrait on Sasuke. He just needed evidence to bring his glaring deficiencies to light and force him to face the facts. He snapped out of musings as he noticed a strange chakra signature right in front of the team. He caught up to them and stayed hidden, keeping an eagle eye on them.

Back with Team 7, Naruto noticed something strange, as well. On the ground off to the side of the road, there was a puddle of water. He looked at the sky and noted that there were no clouds. There hadn't been any rain in weeks and the ground around the puddle was a bit parched. _'What the hell? That can't be right.' _He thought as his suspicions were further warranted by Saki's words.

_**"Be careful, Naruto-kun. Something's not right. I can smell it in the air."**_

Taking her words to heart, he made his way over to Kakashi "Hey, Kakashi-sensei?"

"What, Naruto?" He replied in an annoyed tone.

_'Geez...I just wanted to ask you something...'_ He thought as he went through with his question. "I know you saw that puddle back there. Don't you think it's a little wierd to see that on a hot day with no rain for weeks?"

"Just keep your eyes on the path Naruto and don't talk unless you have something intelligent to say."

The blonde was fuming with indignation at the dismissal. _'You stupid jackass! I'm trying to warn you!' _He raged at the one-eyed Jounin inwardly, but before he could actually say something, two wierd nins that he had never seen before shot out of the puddle and lanced toward Kakashi with a razor chain that was stretched between them that they wrapped around him.

The three Genin watched in horror when with a solid tug, the two nuke-nin sliced their sensei in half. The two nins then turned their attention to Tazuna and made a bee-line for him. Sakura and Tazuna stood frozen in fear, but Naruto tackled them just in time.

"Get down!!" He bellowed, although he got slashed by the chain in the process. Sasuke, who was standing nearby was using his own team and the client as bait to make them forget about him, attacked them from their blind spot, pinning their chain to a nearby tree with a few kunai.

_'No...That thing was poisoned!'_ Naruto thought as his vision began to blur.

Saki felt the poison enter and start to affect Naruto, but she quickly set to work on nullifying the poison so that it wouldn't hamper her host too much. **_"Naruto-kun, just keep fighting and leave the poison to me!"_**

_"Got it, Saki-chan!"_ He replied back to her as he made some Shadow clones to go help Sasuke while he regained his bearings. He felt the Kyuubi begin to counteract the poison in his system as a wave of relief washed over him, but Sakura just looked on, stunned at what just happened.

"Baka!! I wanted Sasuke-kun to save me!" She yelled at him, taking a swing at him. Naruto was just tuning her out as he launched himself back into the fray by using one of his new jutsu. He waited for Sasuke to get clear, performed a few handseal, and launched his attack.

_**"FUUTON : DAITOPPA!!"**_

The effect was better than he had hoped. The pair were thrown back into the trees, stunning them long enough for the Kage Bunshins to close in and take them down, HARD. Ichigo had witnessed the whole thing and couldn't be anymore proud of his student and descendant.

Sasuke was in the process of catching his breath when he stopped to think about what Naruto had done. _'That dobe took them out with that wind jutsu...Where did he learn that?! I need it more!'_ He fumed as Kakashi came back out into the open.

"Well done, Sasuke. I knew you could handle this." He complimented the Uchiha avenger before turning to Sakura. "You too, Sakura. You protected the client."

He then turned his attention to Naruto with a scowl. "You, you didn't do anything except get in the way. You could have hurt the client and Sasuke didn't need your help. That Fuuton jutsu was reckless and you could have hurt Sasuke with it. If you can't work with them, you have no place on this team."

Ichigo couldn't believe what he just heard. Naruto was the one who tried to work with them and even saved them, but that jackass just gave the credit to them, instead. He had to use every bit of self-control to avoid breaking cover and kicking his ass.

Naruto was just as pissed off. _'That bastard...I just tried to help out!'_ He thought as his temper started to rise. "Then where the hell did you disappear to when you should have been here to help us!" He shot back.

The one-eyed Jounin's lone eye narrowed. "I was trying to see who they were after until you interfered."

"I think its pretty obvious that they were after the old geezer! They made a bee-line right for him!" He bellowed as he dropped to one knee clutching his shoulder, the poison still not through with him yet.

Said old man rushed to the boy's side, taking off the rag from his head and using it as a bandage. "Don't worry, kid. I know that you were the star of the show this time around and you got hurt saving me. Thanks, kid." Tazuna whispered to him as he finished dressing the wound.

Naruto gave him a small grin and a nod. "Thanks, old man."

Kakashi started to grill Tazuna on why he only paid for a C-rank mission when there were enemy shinobi involved. The two shinobi who attacked them were Chuunin-level Nuke-nin from Kiri known as the Demon Brothers, a cake walk for someone like Kakashi but a real handful for academy fresh Genin. Tazuna replied that Wave Country was very poor and couldn't afford to pay for a higher ranked mission. He sighed and asked Sakura and Sasuke what they thought, ignoring Naruto. Sasuke just grunted and said that he wanted to keep going. Sakura was unsure but agreed with her crush. After Kakashi summoned one of his hounds to deliver a message for prisoner pick-up back to the village, they picked up and set out again, leaving Naruto behind.

Sakura looked back a Naruto as he staggered to his feet to walk after them. She just couldn't figure it out. The boy she ridiculed on a regular basis had just saved her life while her crush seemingly left her to her fate.

Naruto grumbled, "Would it kill you to wait for me? Freakin' jerks..." As he rose to his feet slowly and caught up with them.

As the little pug, Pakkun, ran beneath him, Ichigo jumped down to intercept him. "Here..." He said, holding out a scroll. "Give this to the Hokage for me."

The dog eyed him suspiciously, but saw that he was in the uniform of a Konoha ANBU. "What are you doing here?"

"I am on a mission of my own from the old man himself and it involves them." He said, pointing in the direction that Team 7 took off in. "I can't say anything more than that, but it has to do with the Yondaime's Legacy and Hatake's...irresponsible handling of him." He added.

Pakkun's face was now grim, as Ichigo, or Kitsune, noticed. "I trust you know about it, then?"

The pug nodded slowly. "Yes. I do. That fool Hatake...I told him that his actions would come back to haunt him." It breathed, before it recomposed itself. "So, the Hokage finally deemed it nesscessary to have Hatake monitored?"

Ichigo gave the small pug the gravest of nods. "He has thus far proven to be a laughable teacher, and it has began to become a liability that Hokage-sama no longer wishes to allow to continue."

Pakkun grunted in agreement. There was nothing to argue about. Kakashi was screwing up and it was only a matter of time before some light was shed on the subject. The small ninken sighed. "You have my word that I won't breath a word of this to Hatake. I'll deliver your message to the old man." He told the tall fox-masked blonde, accepting the scroll from him.

"Thank you." He replied while holding a glowing hand of him, giving him chakra. "For your time." The pug nodded and continued on his way while Kitsune went on his. "I'm really starting to hate you Hatake..." The fox-masked blonde muttered angrily as he started catching up to the team again.

Back with Team 7, they had set up camp for the night. Sakura had stuck close to Sasuke more out of habit than anything, Kakashi was reading his orange smut book, Tazuna was resting beneath a tree, and Naruto was crouched near the fire which he started and was cooking some fish that he caught. He was grateful to Ichigo for taking him fishing and showing him how to catch fish quickly.

He wiped his brow and called out the chow was on. Before he knew it, the food was gone and not even a single thank you except from Tazuna. The fish were all gone, including the one he set aside for himself, but when he looked over at Sasuke, he had two fish in his hands.

_'That jerk...One of those was for me.'_ He thought angrily as he pulled out a ration bar that he was hoping to save for later. _'Man...I was hoping to save this for later.'_

Sakura watched as Naruto munched on the nasty ration with a grimace while everyone else got to enjoy the grilled fish that he himself prepared. The pink-haired girl was now wrapped in an internal struggle with her inner persona.

_**"He looks so dejected and hurt that his own teammates and sensei have no consideration for him and how he even went and cooked dinner for all of us. He didn't even get to enjoy it."**_ Inner Sakura commented sadly.

_"Who cares? That baka should have caught more if he wanted to eat. Sasuke-kun needs food to perform and Naruto just needs to stay out of the way."_ Sakura huffed.

_**"The baka, as you call him, saved your life today while your precious Uchiha let you defenseless and un-covered. That foolish Uchiha nearly got himself killed until Naruto got involved and covered his back." **_She retorted still seething with anger at what Kakashi and Sasuke had done earlier.

_"That's not true! Take that back!!" _She shot back, angry that someone had pointed out one of Sasuke's many glaring shortcomings.

_**"Make me."**_ Inner Sakura taunted as Sakura lunged at her.

With a well placed fist, Inner Sakura had subdued the fangirl persona and took control of her body for a few moments. She looked down at her fish and saw that there was enough of it left to give to her teammate. She promptly stood up and made her way over to the log at the edge of their encampment where Naruto sat, perparing something.

She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, but to to her dismay, he jumped and flinched away from her. "W-What is it, Sakura?" He asked, his voice regaining some stability, but still conveying suspicion. _'What's she up to?_

She didn't show it, but it hurt not being 'Sakura-chan' anymore. Inner Sakura quite enjoyed it as it showed that someone truly cared for her. "Say, um, Naruto? Would you like to finish this?" She asked, but saw the skeptical look on his face. _'Of course he's suspicious. She's been a total witch to him.'_ She thought while thinking of a viable excuse. "I just thought that since you were kind enough to catch and cook dinner, it's the least I could do." She told him, holding out the offered food.

Naruto looked her in the eye, eye'd the food, then looked back at her and sighed. "Thanks...But, no thanks. You eat it and keep your strength up. I don't need Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke blameing me if you get hungry and can't keep up." He told her as he stood up and walked away.

"W-wait... Where are you going?" She asked.

"To set some perimeter traps for the night." He told her without turning around, making his way out of the camp.

Just before he left her sight, Inner Sakura lost control and the fan-girl regained it. _**"Damn! Ran out of time!"**_ She cursed as she was shunted off to a corner of her hosts sub-conscious.

_'What is that baka doing? Who cares, as long as he leaves us alone.'_ She thought as she went over to talk with Sasuke.

Kakashi may have looked like he wasn't paying attention, but he saw everything that transpired. He also wondered where Naruto learned that Fuuton Jutsu and some of his fighting style. He was informed that Naruto could barely even defend himself, but during the test, Naruto was giving him a run for his money for a moment and had to fight harder than he had against Sasuke. On top of that, Naruto fared far better than Sasuke against the Demon Brothers, taking them both down and out. He wanted to know who was helping Naruto and interfering with his team.

Naruto came back into the camp after setting his traps and was looking forward to getting a little rest when Sasuke confronted him. "Where did you go, dobe?" He demanded.

Naruto snorted slightly. "Typical Uchiha charm, I see. If you have to know, I was out setting some perimeter traps as an insurance against anymore sneak attacks." He answered as he went to unfurl his bedroll.

Sasuke wasn't satisfied with that answer, however, as he grabbed the front of Naruto's jacket. "Where did you learn that Ninjutsu and clone jutsu? Who gave them to you?" He demanded again.

Naruto knocked his hands away from him. "That's enough! Cut it out, Sasuke! Why are you angry that I may have learned something that you don't?"

Sakura saw and heard what was happening, but Inner Sakura flared up again. _**"Oh, no you don't. You stay out of this. You'll only make things worse."**_ Inner Sakura tried to reason.

_"How dare that baka talk to Sasuke-kun that way?!"_ She raged.

_**"What Naruto was taught is his own business, not ours. Leave him be, you've done enough to him in recent months."**_ Inner Sakura snarled as she vanished again. Sakura sat down on a log nearby and watched it all unfold.

"Because you don't deserve it." Sasuke growled at the blonde haired boy.

"Oh, and you do?" Naruto countered.

"A loser like you wouldn't understand. I need more power. I need to avenge my clan!"

"Whatever. Just leave me alone. I want to get some sleep and you should too." He told him as he climbed into his bedroll. Sasuke fumed with indignation over this, but turned in for the night, as well.

Naruto was only asleep for an hour when he felt someone shake him awake. He opened his eyes groggily to see Kakashi crouched over him. "We need to talk, Naruto." He told him in a tone that was more of an order than anything else. The one-eyed nin took him slightly out of the camp to talk with him.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" He asked, not really sure what he was so upset about. He caught and cooked dinner, set up some traps to ensure their safety, so what was the beef?

"I know someone has been teaching you outside of our teams sessions, that wind jutsu only proves it. Now, who's been teaching you?" He asked him harshly.

"Why does it matter so much? Aren't we supposed to be training at every availiable opportunity and take some initiative? I mean, maybe I've just been putting extra hours into my training and it's showing some results?"

"Don't take me for an idiot, Naruto. How could the dead last improve so much on his own so quickly? That Taijutsu looked fairly advanced and I've never seen it before. Fuuton jutsu are very rare in our village and they would most likely be beyond your means. Now, who is it? Who's been teaching you?" He demanded more forcefully, letting out some killer intent.

"My new neighbor, Ichigo-san. He lets me train with him when we get the chance and we hang out, too." He answered. He was told that if Kakashi had issues with his teachings, then he could deal with him personally. He wanted to keep Asuma, Anko, and the others who contributed in their own little ways a secret to protect them from the council and what he knew they would do.

"I don't want you seeing him or training with him anymore. You are MY student, not his." He ordered.

"What?! But, he's my friend! If he hadn't been training me, there's a good chance we could have been killed!"

"Don't argue with me, that's an order! If I find out that you've been learning from him again, I'll put you on report." He growled at Naruto as he walked back to the camp.

Ichigo was listening in on the conversation. He knew now that the Copy-nin would now be looking for him when they returned, but that hardly mattered right now. _'At least he didn't spill everything. That douchebag has another thing coming when he gets back to the village and after I file this report with the old man. I'll never stop training Naruto, regardless of how mad Kakashi-teme gets. If he has a problem with it, he can face me, not bully the kid out of it.'_ He thought angrily as he made a small platoon of Kage Bunshin to keep watch while he got a little sleep.

_A/N: Man! Kakashi is just digging is own grave here! Even his most loyal and intelligent ninken is starting to turn against him! Ichigo is hanging back and just collecting more and more evidence of incompetence and favortisim, which is going to make the final report a real bitch. I believe in this saying "Give someone enough slack, and eventually they'll hang themselves with it." I'm gonna get back to sleep. These meds that they have me on are really kicking my ass right now. _

_G'night._


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey there. Just got out of the hospital and got cracking on this newest installment of this story. Now for their fight with Zabuza and how the smarter Naruton deals with it, as well as the rest of the team. Here you go, enjoy.**_

_**THE NEXT MORNING, AUGUST 20th**_

Naruto woke up and stretched out the stiffness in his body as he made his way to the nearby stream to wash his face. He washed up, packed his gear in and pulled out a ration bar to eat for breakfast. The ingratitude for his cooking dinner the previous night convinced him that he needn't do it again.

The rest of the team woke up as he sat on his stump, his gaze directed away from the encampment. Kakashi was still a little sore at Naruto from the other day, but pushed that aside as he ordered the rest of the team to pack it in and get moving.

They came up to a pier of sorts that was shrouded in mist as Tazuna signaled someone with a small boat. The ruddy faced man who piloted the small craft had a wary eye on the shinobi. "These the ones, Tazuna?" He asked. Tazuna nodded. The man shook his head. "I hope this is worth the risk we're runnin'. " He sighed as they all boarded the boat that was bound for Wave.

Ichigo watched as the boat scuttled out to Wave and began to trek over the water and meet the boat on the other side. He thought about what had happened throughout this mission so far and he wasn't impressed with the Copy-nin's ability to be un-biased and fair with his team, with the rest of Team 7 falling in right behind him.

Right from the get go, Sasuke left a bad taste in his mouth. The kid had a bad attitude, 'nuff said. Sakura wasn't much better, just blindly following along with the Uchiha kid. Kakashi was very biased and obviously disliked Naruto, disparaging him and talking down to him at every opportunity. '_Just icing on the cake that would be the final report.'_ He thought as he began to approach dry land.

Team 7 piled out of the boat and were now on Wave territory and continued their trek towards Tazuna's village when Naruto noticed something rustleing in the bushes, chucking a kunai at it. They found that he nearly hit a snow white rabbit. Sakura yelled at him for scaring everyone like that, but Kakashi actually thought that Naruto was on to something even if he'd never admit to it. He knew that the rabbit's fur shouldn't have been white in late summer, so someone used it as a Kawarimi.

Suddenly, a think mist began to roll in and blanket the area, putting them all on edge. Suddenly, Kakashi threw them all to the ground as a massive sword buzzed over their heads. A cold, menacing laugh rang from out of the mist.

"So many areas to choose from...8 instant death points...the heart first, or maybe the head..." It taunted as a figure emerged from the mist. Kakashi's visible eye widened with recognition. "Zabuza Momochi..." He growled.

Zabuza let out a bark of laughter as he recognized his opponent. "Sharingan Kakashi...what a small world this is." He commented aloud, his voice packed with amusement.

"K-Kakashi-sensei...who is he?" Sakura asked him timidly.

"He's Zaubza Momochi, an A-Rank criminal from the Mist Village, also known as the Demon of the Mist for killing 100 of his classmates to graduate from the Mist Academy." He told them, making Sakura go white in terror. "Stay back and guard Tazuna. I'll handle him."

"Ahhh, yes. Such fond memories...But now, let's get down to business. Fork over the old man and you and your brats can walk away." The brow-less missing-nin demanded.

"Sorry, but we've got a job to do..." He replied while unveiling his Sharingan eye.

"Oh ho...Resorting to the Sharigan, already? I'm honored." Zabuza sneered in mock gratitude while readying his zanbatou and making a handseal that made the mist get even thicker. His killing intent permiated the air, making all but Kakashi stand paralyzed with fear.

He turned to them and reassured them that he'd handle the situation and the two Jounin went head to head, Zabuza using his water jutsu and Kakashi copying it and countering him. What Kakashi didn't expect was for Zabuza to make some Mizu Bunshin to go after his team.'

Naruto and Sasuke were doing everything they could to fend off the attacking water clones, but they were being beaten back. _'Damn...This is bad!! I guess it's time for another jutsu!'_ He reasoned as he made a few Kage Bunshin to keep the clones at bay for a few precious seconds while he weaved though handseals for one of the bigger wind jutsu he knew, courtesy of Asuma-sensei.

As soon as he saw that Sasuke was in the clear and he had a few bunshin lined up, he let them have it. _**"FUUTON : FUURYUDAN!!!"**_ He screamed out as a large dragon made of wind shredded the offending bunshin with extreme predjudice.

The jutsu was so loud and destructive, that both Kakashi and Zabuza took notice. "That brat has some skill, taking down my water clones like that." He commented but saw that Kakashi was still distracted and took full advantage of it, trapping him in the Water Prison Jutsu. Now, Kakashi looked on as more water clones sprang up and began to assualt his fledgling team.

From his nearby perch, Ichigo swore loudly. "That idiot...He should know better than to take his eyes off of his opponent." He grumbled as he foucsed a bit. With a sharp thrust of his hand and a grunt, a blade of wind sliced the bunshin horde in half and halted the assualt in its tracks. "There. That should even the odds." He murmured as he turned his attention back to the battle. He was about to move in to free Kakashi, but saw that Naruto already had the situation well under control.

Not even stopping to wonder where that wind blade came from, Naruto worked out a plan to free Kakashi. He made even more Kage Bunshin and had them throw everything they had at Zabuza to keep him busy while he aimed another jutsu right at him.

There was plenty of water all around him, so he went with a water jutsu. _**"SUITON : SUIRYUUDAN!!"**_ He cried and a Water Dragon bore down on Zabuza.

Between the thrown weapons and the jutsu, Zabuza knew he had to let the jutsu go if he wanted to keep his arm, so he disengaged and broke away. While Zabuza was still trying to get his bearings and figure out how the hell a Genin could use two higher level jutsu without keeling over and rip his water clones apart, Kakashi got behind him and put a kunai at his throat.

"Game over, Zabuza." He told the Kiri missing-nin. Before Kakashi could even flinch, a trio of senbon buried themselves in Zabuza's neck, sending him crashing lifelessly to the ground. A masked hunter-nin dropped out of the trees and greeted the team.

"I greatly appreaciate that you defeated him and made my job easier." The masked nin, said cooly while loading up Zabuza. "Goodbye." He told them as he disappeared with the body.

Soon after the mystery nin high-tailed it out of there, Kakashi slumped to the ground from chakra exhaustion. "Hey old man. How far is your house from here?" Naruto asked since his teammates weren't offering any helpful suggestions.

Tazuna nodded. "It's not too far from here, only an hour's travel from here, and we're there. I'll lead the way." He offered.

Naruto nodded, picked up Kakashi, and looked back at his teammates. "You guys coming or what?" He asked them as he a Tazuna hit the trail, walking off in the direction of Tazuna's home.

Sakura was now very confused. That was twice now that Naruto, the dead last loser and weakling, had succeeded where Sasuke, the Rookie of the Year and supposedly infalliable ninja, had failed. Another thing was that Naruto no longer fawned over her like he used to, opting to ignore her if possible, but still remaining civil. Her Inner was constantly raging at her for always disparaging Naruto and never giving him a fair chance. _'Was she right all along?'_

Sasuke was livid. First, Naruto had taken out the two Mist Chuunin almost in one fell swoop, now he saved them and the client from the Mizu Bunshins and freed Kakashi from the water prison himself. He nearly wet himself when that missing nin with the massive sword unleashed his killer intent, but Naruto somehow remained calm. During it all, Naruto used three high rank jutsu, at least B-Rank and above, that he didn't know.

He ran in front of Naruto and stood in his way, grabbing the front of his shirt. "Dobe, tell me where you learned those jutsu." He demanded angrily.

Naruto wasn't impressed. He knew that Sasuke would throw a tantrum like this and was somewhat expecting it. "Now's not the time for this, Sasuke. Let me go and let's get to Old Man Tazuna's place before dark. Kakashi-sensei needs to rest." He told Sasuke firmly.

"Since when do I take orders from you, Dobe? Tell me now!! I need that power..." He shouted angrily before he was cut off by Naruto.

"To avenge your family." He finsihed for him. "Yeah, yeah. We know. The people who taught these to me are my friends. You know...that foreign "F" word that you don't seem to get?" He told the wannabe avenger as he removed his hands from his jacket collar. "Cut it out so we can get to a safe place for the night!"

Sasuke was about to deck Naruto when Sakura did something odd, she moved to defend Naruto. "Naruto's right. This won't solve anything and we need to get Kakashi-sensei to a safe place. We won't stand a chance if we get attacked like that again, now let's go." She told him firmly.

Tazuna had had quite enough of this little primadonna's attitude, as well. "Cut it out, kid. The blonde is right, we don't know what else might hit us if we stay here while you piss and moan. Now let's go." With that, they were on their way and made it to his house just after nightfall.

Ichigo was still watching and knew that the hunter-nin must have been an accomplice of that freaky guy somehow. From what he read, the hunters were supposed to burn the body in site and make off with only the head. He decided against chasing him, though, as his mission was to stick close to Team 7.

He listened in to the little spat and knew that Sasuke was becoming a problem. His attitude was piss poor, and he was now trying to shakedown Naruto for information. He was surprized when Sakura came to his defense against her crush. That was something completely unexpected, but it helped to get the team moving. He found a secluded patch of forest near the old man's house and did his nightly ritual, set traps, make a Kage Bunshin security squad, and get some rest.

Tazuna introduced the team to his family. His daughter, Tsunami, was a lovely woman with a very motherly air to her. Inari, her son, seemed very broody and angry.

After eating dinner and Naruto volunteered for the first watch, Sakura laid down in a bed that Tsunami provided, thinking about what had happened. _"Did I do the right thing in arguing with Sasuke-kun?"_ She wondered.

_**"All you did was defend your teammate and agree with a perfectly sensible plan. Your crush wanted to stay there and get into a pissing match that not even Naruto felt like getting into after what had just happened. So yes, you did the right thing, choosing survival over indulging your crush."**_ Inner Sakura reasoned.

_"What if he doesn't like me anymore after I argued with him?! This is all Naruto's..."_ She began to wail but was cut off.

_**"No."**_ I.S said forcefully. _**"This is not Naruto's fault. He just took command when the chips were down and was trying to get his team to safety. At this rate, he's putting some truth behind his claims of becoming Hokage someday. He's showing the leadership and responsibilty that you and Sasuke thought you had, but don't. Don't even THINK of blaming him for something you yourself did. It's about time that you grew up and faced reality. The whole damsel in distress bit only works when your prince charmless actually gives a rat's ass about you. If it weren't for Naruto, we'd be dead right now and the mission would be a failure. Think about THAT."**_ She snarled while fading back into the recesses of Sakura's mind, leaving her host to think on things.

The next day, Kakashi woke up and addressed his team. He was told that Naruto was the one responsible for getting him to a safe place to recover and taking up the responsibility of command while he was down, but didn't really want to believe it. He went over what happened with the hunter-nin and concluded that Zabuza was still alive and could attack again.

Naruto swore silently, "Damn! I knew it.." He breathed. Kakashi couldn't help hear that part. "Naruto...care to enlighten us on what you were saying?"

He looked at Kakashi warily, but endevored to explain. "I was reading up in the library during our off time and learned that Hunter-nin's are supposed to dispose of the body on-site and bring back only the head as proof of death. This guy didn't. Furthermore, the weapon he used were senbon. Where those senbon hit, it couldn't have possibly killed him. I read that it's possible to put someone in a death-like state, however." He explained to his stunned team.

Sasuke was the first to snap out of it. "How would an idiot like you know that?" He scoffed at the blonde boy.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the supposed prodigy. "I can read, Sasuke." He replied sarcastically. "My neighbor likes to read and study, and he also lent me some books on stuff like that and it interested me." He explained.

"Naruto, what's happened to you? You were never like this..." Sakura blurted out.

"You think I liked being an idiot, Sakura? Do you think I enjoyed throwing on that fake smile to hide how I really felt and thought? Did you ever really know me at all to make that kind of assumption?" He asked her with an edge to his voice before he turned his attention back to the team as a whole.

"I figured that since I would be going on missions like this someday, I might as well learn something and possibly save my teammates in the process, like today." He told her with an expression of sadness and anger. He switched topics and addressed Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, are there any exercises that we can work on while you recover?" He requested.

Kakashi blinked owlishly. "I happen to have just the exercise for you all. Follow me." He told them while dragging himself to his feet.

Inside, he was torn between pride that his student took the iniative to study during his offtime and also took command while he was down and loathing that said student was the dead-last and not his star pupil, Sasuke Uchiha. Also, he was fuming at the fact that Ichigo came up again, and was teaching the blonde all sorts of useful things while Kakashi let him stagnate. His orders from the council were quite clear : Naruto Uzumaki must be suppressed. His growth must be stunted so that his death will come on assignment and not look suspicious. Ichigo was messing up his progress in that mission.

The team came to a clearing with many tall trees. Kakashi turned and adressed his team. "Okay, now the exercise I will be teaching you will be to climb trees."

Sasuke scoffed at the training. "What good will that do? Even the dobe can do that."

The copy-nin shook his head. "No, no. I meant without your hands." He corrected while he walked right up the tree and hung from a thick branch, smirking at their reactions. He looked again and found that Naruto was missing. "Where's Naruto?" He inquired, but a voice from higher up cut him off.

"Looking for me?" He asked, hanging from a branch directly above him, looking down straight at them with a deadpan look on his features.

Kakashi swallowed his surprize and commented. "Well, I can see your ahead of the curve here, Naurto, but can you do it again?" He challenged.

Naruto shrugged and casually walked straight up the tree to a higher branch. "What now?"

From a nearby tree, Ichigo was nearly rolling with laughter at the shocked faces of Team 7. He was the one to teach him that and it only took a few hours for him to learn it. In fact, they were working on water walking before he left. The Kage Bunshin training method was a real boon when used properly.

Kakashi was stewing silently. _'He wasn't supposed to know things like this. Hokage-sama needs to stop this Ichigo from interfering and stealing my student.'_ He mused angrily. "That's enough showing off, Naruto. Get down here, now." He ordered.

Naruto and Ichigo scowled and knew what was to come. Naruto lept down to the ground and faced his sensei. "Why didn't you tell us about your abilities before hand? You should have told us and taught them to Sasuke." He scolded.

Naruto looked at him as if he grew another head before replying. "Why should I? Don't think I don't know about the extra training you give Sasuke after you chase me away after our team meetings. I learned all of this in my free time, not from you." He replied, clearly not amused by his accusations and blatant favortism.

"Watch your tone with me, Genin. What I do after the team meetings is my own business, not yours." He shot back in a scathing tone. He turned his attention back to the rest of Team 7. "Now, I want the rest of you to give it a shot while Naruto and I go have a little talk." He finished.

Sakura watched the two of them disappear from view while thinking about what just happened. During the course of this mission, Naruto had proven that he was just as capable as Sasuke and hadn't bothered or spoke to her once, or even looked at her unless the situation demanded it. Kakashi-sensei was acting really wierd, too. Why would he get so mad that somebody would take some initiative to learn on their own? I almost seemed as if Kakashi-sensei had something personal against Naruto. Inner Sakura was contemplating these facts away from her hosts notice. _**'What is going on here? Why is Kakashi so hell bent on snubbing Naruto like that and only concentraiting on that snob Sasuke?'**_

Sasuke was fuming with rage at the fact that the dobe had again shown himself to be superior. He was almost like a different person compared to their Academy days. It all started the day of their team selections when he flipped out on all of them and that mysterious Jounin started to show up around Naruto, as if he were watching over him. Sasuke was desperate to get his hands on the power that tall blonde man displayed so casually the day of their team test. '_I want that power! I need it to fulfuill my vengeance against my brother. I'll just have the council make him give me his secrets.'_

Ichigo followed Kakashi and Naruto silently in order to hear the conversation. He really didn't like what he was hearing.

"Naruto. Why won't you give those jutsu to Sasuke? He needs them a lot more than you do."

Naruto didn't respond at first, as he was digging in his ear with his finger. "What? I couldn't hear you. My bullshit filter got clogged and I had to clean it out." He replied sarcastically.

"Stop that right now, young man." He chastised sternly. "He needs those jutsu more than you. try to get that neighbor of yours to train him, too." He added, a touch of desperation in his words.

"Are you nuts?! He hates Sasuke and would rather neuter him with a rusty spoon than have anything to do with him after what happened after you left the day you gave us that test." He argued.

"What do you mean by that?"

"After you left, he tried to slap Sakura for no reason, but Ichigo-san stopped him with a small water blast and cut me loose from the log you left me tied to. Sasuke tried to get him to train him , but he refused. Sasuke threw a tantrum and tried to attack him, only to get stopped cold. Sakura begged him not to hurt Sasuke, so let him go. After he did that, Sasuke thought it would be a good idea to roast us all alive with a Goukakyu. Thankfully, Ichigo-san made sure you still even HAD a team by protecting me and Sakura with a water shield. When the fire died down, Ichigo-san knocked him out and told us both to go home and that he'd take Sasuke to you for punishment, as he said that it wasn't his place to do it."

Kakashi swore inwardly. After something like that, Sasuke was lucky that Ichigo only knocked him out even though he was within his right to punish him as he saw fit. It was a very foolish thing to do, attacking a Jounin like that, especially an unknown one. He was also lucky that Ichigo didn't go to the Hokage about it and tried to handle it on the lowest possible level. There was no chance at ever getting the blonde man to teach Sasuke his secrets, much less Naruto. "What will you work on, now?"

"I'm gonna go work on water walking. I was working on it before we took this mission. Later." He told Kakashi non-chalantly as he walked toward a small creek he spotted on the way to the clearing.

_A/N: Another chapter done. Man, I didn't know that Percocet would mess with my head and slow me down so much. Then again, it also might have been Call of Duty 4 and Killzone 2, too. I've been confined to my couch for at least 4 weeks to recover, doctor's orders. But that also means faster updates if I push it, so I'll try._


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9 up and running! This chapter consists of the last of the Wave Mission. I decided to go with Dragon Man 180's suggestion, so I hope you enjoy it!**_

_**ONE WEEK LATER, AUGUST 25TH**_

Naruto trained relentlessly for the next few days as well as commiting to his duties in guarding Tazuna and the bridge-building crew. He even managed to finally walk on water, even if it was a little unstable. The only things out of the ordinary that happened as that one night, he fell asleep near the creek he trained at and woke up to possibly the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen hovering over him.

Of course, Naruto was ultra-bashful, but made small talk with the girl.

"M-my name's Naruto Uzumaki, nee-chan!"

Said 'nee-chan' giggled at his enthusiastic greeting. "Hello, Naruto-kun. My name is Haku."

"Haku-neechan, what are you doing out here?"

"Collecting herbs for my precious person. He was hurt pretty badly and I'm trying to help him."

"Precious person?"

"Someone dear to me. Do you have someone like that, Naruto-kun?"

He thought for a moment. His thoughts ran through some of the people he knew. Ichigo came to mind. The Sandaime, Iruka-sensei, and Takeo and his wife, Sanae came to mind as well. His teammates just barely squeaked by in his opinion. "Yeah, I do."

They kept up the small talk for a little while longer until Haku had to get going. She had never met anyone quite like Naruto before, but was glad that she did. He almost became something of a little brother to the lonely girl. He told her a lot about himself and she felt like she'd known him her whole life. She could even tell that he was quite lonely himself.

He had come to sleep on the roof of Tazuna's house and generally stayed away from his team outside of training, meal times, and duties. He wasn't rude about it, but kept his distance from them at all times because he didn't trust them, especially Kakashi and Sasuke. Sakura had become some what of a wild card. At times, she would be openly hostile to him as he expected, but a few times, she was sort of nurturing to him, as if she did care about him on some level.

Another night, however, wasn't as pleasant. With the arrival of Ichigo and his newfound knowledge of and help from the Kyuubi A.K.A Saki, his nightmares were getting fewer and farther inbetween, but this night, he had a massive nightmare.

The bad dream was of some of the times that he was beaten as a small child in the orphanage. From inside of her seal, Saki was doing all she could to calm him down as he was pulling a bit on her chakra in his fright. It wasn't long before his pained screams pierced the night, making the inhabitants of the house awaken in fright.

Ichigo was already there, trying to calm him down when he sensed the rest of the team had awaked and he had to hide himself again. As he pulled back, he asked Saki to do what she could for him, to which she immeadiately agreed to. She frantically tried to awaken her vessel, but the seal blocked most of her influence over him. The most she could do was try to coax him into calming down, then comforting him to keep the nightmares at bay.

Kakashi reached out with his senses and detected a faint signature of the Kyuubi's aura. _'Is the seal being breached?!' _He thought in a panic as he rushed to the rooftop. The rest of Team 7 and Tazuna had followed right after him and were greeted by an unsettling sight : Naruto was engulfed in a blood red haze, screaming and convulsing as though he were in intense pain. His hair was wild, he had what appeared to be fangs and claws, and his whisker marks had deepened.

Sakura and Tazuna were about to go forward to have a better look, but were held back by Kakashi. "No. Don't get too close to him right now. Wait for it to die down, then we could possibly do something about this." He ordered.

Sasuke watched in almost perverse fascination at what was happening to his teammate. He had seen that crimson aura come from Naruto before and saw how powerful it made him. He could feel the raw power flowing, erupting from him in waves. _'This power...Why does HE have it and not me?!?'_

Within the seal, Saki was beginning to succeed in calming her vessel down. She held him in the tightest embrace she could manage while. Slowly, the haze around him began to die down and he stopped convulsing and screaming. He began to do something that he hadn't done of a little over half of his lifetime, cried openly even though he wasn't conscious for it.

Ichigo was watching from a nearby tree, holding himself back from rushing to Naruto's aid. He needed to see how the team handled this and how Kakashi would react.

Naruto's closed eyes were flowing with tears as he let out pained sobs and moans in his sleep. "N-no...I've been good...why are you hurting me? I'm not a monster...I don't wanna be alone..."

Saki couldn't stand her vessel being in such pain. This nightmare made his other ones pale in comparison and there was very little she could do to help. In a move of desperation, she threw herself into the seal with all the strength she could muster and managed to weaken it a bit. Seeing her opportunity, she seized it and let her consciousness seep out into the world.

Suddenly, a red aura flared to life beside him and Kakashi pulled the team back. As soon as the flare died down, a ghostly figure could be seen sitting seiza beside him with a sad look on her face. Kakashi first thought that she was a ghost until he saw her features. She had long crimson hair and eyes, nine long fox tails and red fox ears, and an elegant kimono.

The one-eyed man paled when he figured out just who that mysterious woman was that pulled Naruto's head into her lap and began to sing a hauntingly beautiful lullaby while stroking his hair affectionately. He got into a defensive stance, which Sasuke mirrored, but Sakura wasn't so sure.

The pink-haired girl stood spellbound by this beautiful woman's song and how she seemed to care greatly for Naruto. The song ended and Naruto was once again sleeping peacefully. The ghostly fox-woman's eyes shone with tears in the moonlight. _**"My precious little kit...I will protect you from your nightmares and what that foolish village has done to you. I love you, my little Naru-chan."**_ She told him sadly as she gave him a kiss on his forehead and vanished like a wisp of smoke.

The team all heard what he was saying and had various reactions. Tazuna and Tsunami were filled with sympathy for the poor boy. Tazuna had a pretty good idea of how Naruto was treated and that accounted for what he heard. Tsunami wondered morbidly what could have possibly happened to the boy to cause such horrifying nightmares.

Kakashi was starting to feel guilt over how he handled Naruto in the past, but stopped it ruthlessly. He was still angry with Naruto, as he believed that he stole the life of his teacher and the life of his remaining teammate, Rin. He wanted to eliminate him, but the Hokage would ask questions and his team and the client were there, so he let it go.

Sasuke was visibly angry. He found that Naruto had outclassed him again. He had a power that made his pale in comparison and that was something he couldn't stand. He sneered in disgust and was about to leave the roof until Sakura called out to him.

"Sasuke-kun, shouldn't we at least bring a blanket up here for him?" She asked in a concerned tone.

He turned and glared at her. "Leave that dobe up here. I couldn't care less about what happens to that loser." He growled out as he jumped down from the roof.

Tazuna and Tsunami both shook their heads sadly and climbed down off of the roof. Sakura stopped Kakashi before he could leave himself. "Kakashi- sensei, who was that woman? Why did she look so much like a fox and why does she seem to care about Naruto so much, of all people?"

"I can't tell you, as its a village secret. The punishment for letting it slip is death. The only people who can tell you are the Sandaime and Naruto himself. I doubt that Naruto would tell anyone about it willingly, though." He told her as he jumped down from the roof.

Sakura was torn in two. Her fan-girl persona and Inner persona were warring inside of her over what to do. The fan-girl wanted to follow Sasuke, but the Inner wanted to know more about what happened and if she could help in any way. _**"What the hell could have happened to him?! What have we done?"**_

_"So what? That dobe made Sasuke-kun angry with me! He can stay up here and freeze for all I care!"_

_**"That's it!! I've had it with you!!"**_ I.S roared as she threw herself at the fan-girl, subdueing her rather quickly and gaining control of her body. Now in the driver's seat, she went to find a blanket for the boy who had suffered so much. She came back with a blanket that was on the bed he was supposed to use and draped it over him. "Sorry, but this is the best I can do for now." She told him sadly as she hopped down from the roof to get some sleep.

_**THE NEXT MORNING, AUGUST 26TH**_

The next morning came around very quickly. The rest of Team 7 was to follow Tazuna to the bridge today. Kakashi noticed that Naruto was still out of it, but left him to sleep and rest. He had heard the pulling on demonic chakra could be quite taxing for Jinchuriki and could sap their strength very quickly. Sasuke and Sakura began to complain that Naruto was just being lazy, but he dragged them out the door anyway.

At Gatou's compound, Zabuza and Haku were gearing up to go and fulfill their contract with the corrupt business man, to kill Tazuna at any cost. Haku was thinking back on the time she met Naruto in the forest and gave a sad smile. She felt that the short blonde genin could have become the best friend he ever had, but she would have to fight and possibly kill him. Zabuza was somewhat impressed with Naruto. The boy had actually managed to keep him and his clones at bay while freeing his sensei, very good for a fresh Genin.

The fat little man wasn't happy with just killing Tazuna, however. He sent two of his better swordsmen to Tazuna's house and wanted to take his daughter Tsunami into his slave business and kill his grandson publicly as a warning to all who would oppose him.

By the time Team 7 and Tazuna reached the bridge, a thick mist blanketed the area and Tazuna's work force was badly injured, but still alive. A cold laugh sounded from the mist.

"Zabuza...He's here." Kakashi warned his team. "Sakura, stay with Tazuna. Sasuke, with me." He ordered as they took their positions.

Zabuza was busy taunting Kakashi and his Genin as he made a comment on Sasuke's trembling. "I'm trembling...with excitement!" The Uchiha replied. But as he said that, Haku made a move toward Tazuna, but was cut off by Sasuke, who began to square off. Kakashi and Zabuza soon began their own liitle dance as kunai met zanbatou.

Back at Tazuna's place, Gatou's men had already arrived and captured Inari and Tsunami. Naruto awoke amid the commotion and moved to see what was going on. He rushed in to help, taking the two mercenaries down quickly, but it wasn't enough. They were quite angry that someone had interrupted their fun and retaliated full force. They proved to be quite skilled with their blades as Naruto was constantly kept on the defensive and being pushed back. He couldn't fight to his full capacity due to having Tsunami and Inari to protect.

Ichigo was watching nearby and decided that it was time to break cover and make himself known. He appeared in a blast of water just in time to block a slash that would have taken Naruto's head off and threw the mercenary back with a burst of strength. "Uzumaki-san. Are you alright?" He told him in a calm voice. He still had to play the part of an ANBU who was dispatched to assist their team and any familiarity would blow his cover.

Naruto looked to see a tall fox masked ANBU staring down at him. "Y-Yeah. Thanks." He said, stunned. _'What's an ANBU doing here?'_ He wondered.

Ichigo nodded and flickered away, only to reappear behind the two thugs resheathing his blade as they fell, a spray of blood coming from their throats. "Uzumaki, where is your team?"

"T-They're at the bridge...wait a minute...you don't think Zabuza is attacking again, do you?!"

"Yes, I do. Let's go."

"Right, ANBU-san!"

With that, the two of them made a mad dash toward the bridge, hoping that they would make it in time.

Back at the bridge, Zabuza and Kakashi were deadlocked and Sasuke and Haku were in a stalemate. Haku grew tired of playing around, so she went for her bigger jutsu. _**"HYOTON : SENSATSU SUISHO."**_ He called out calmly as needles made of ice formed out of the vapor in the air and began to rain down on Sasuke, peppering him without mercy. Sasuke was growing angrier with each passing second of the battle. It seemed as if the hunter nin was merely toying with him, brusing his pride. He had even activated his Sharingan during the fighting, but it was of little use and it was draining his chakra away. "Get out here and fight me properly, you coward!!" He screamed.

Haku scoffed lightly. "I thought that this is how shinobi were supposed to fight, using tricks and traps. Not full scale, one-on-one warfare. Surely, your sensei has taught you this since the blonde one is so adept at it since he actually managed to keep Zabuza-sama at bay." Haku commented.

Sasuke let out a growl of indignation. "Hn. Never compare me to the Dobe. We Uchiha are superior to him, you and everyone else. Ever your master is a weakling compared to me, so spare me your parlor tricks. First I'll kill you, then that Dobe will die. I WILL be superior." He sneered.

Haku felt anger for the first time in years. "Is that so, Uchiha-san?" She growled beneath his mask as he blazed through handseal.

The two Jounin were doling out blows of their own, with Kakashi sustaining various cuts and gashes, but Zabuza was in much better condition. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi spotted Haku making more hand seals for something really nasty. "Haku's actually gonna use it. Your brat really should learn when to keep his trap shut." Zabuza commented .

Sure enough, Haku was gearing up for something big as sshe finished going through seals. _**"HYOTON HIJUTSU : MAKYO HYOSHOU!!"**_ Haku cried as mirrors made of ice formed a dome around him and Sasuke.

"Now Uchiha-san, I am serious." He said calmly as he seemed to melt into one of the mirrors. The Hyoton user began to flow from mirror to mirror, launching barrage after barrage of senbon at him. Sasuke was trying his best to fight back, but he just couldn't catch him in time to do it effectively.

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind ripped across the bridge, blowing away the heavt mist to reveal to figures. One was tall and dressed as a Konoha ANBU with a fearsome looking fox mask. The second turned out to be Naruto, seemingly fully recovered and ready to fight.

"Uzumaki, go and help your teammate while I deal with Zabuza Momochi and help your sensei." He ordered crisply.

Naruto felt that this ANBU earned his trust back at the house and did as he was ordered. "Hai, ANBU-san!" He replied as he made some Shadow Clones to infiltrate the ice dome and look for weaknesses. What he saw when he got there was one of the last things he wanted to see : Sasuke was turned into a human pincushion, lying face down and wasn't moving.

He felt his hackles rise and his demonic chakra rise within him. Haku noticed the new arrival. "Is this the first time you've seen a friend die?" He asked almost remorsefully. "This is the life of a shinobi. I do not like to kill, but if my master wishes it, I will kill my own heart to do it and serve him with my life."

"S_**hut**_ up." Naruto growled, his voice beginning to change. "I never liked Sasuke. I hated him, even. But even so, he was my teammate and comrade, you _**BASTARD!!!!"**_ He screamed as a massive gout of demonic power erupted from him.

Back with the Jounin, Ichigo intercepted a sword blow meant for Kakashi's head then swiftly kicked Zaubza away. "So, I have a new playmate. A Konoha ANBU, no less. This might be fun."

"Hatake, fall back. I will take it from here." The masked nin commanded.

"What are you doing here?" The copy-nin demanded.

"Hokage-sama got your message and dispatched me to deal with this." He replied firmly, betraying nothing since the man was a Jounin for a reason and would be able to see through an act.

"I can deal with this myself. Leave here now!"

"Hold your tongue and ego until the enemy is silenced, Hatake." He shot back, nearly cleaving Zabuza's head in two with an overhead slash, but he blocked just in time. The two seperated, gauged each other and charged into each other with various sword blows and taijutsu attacks. After a full minute, they seperated again.

"Hey, you're pretty good with that blade, ANBU-san." He commented with a hint of respect along with a nasty gash in his side.

"You're not bad yourself. You reputation as one of the Seven Swordmen preceeds you, Momochi." He replied.

Back inside the ice dome, Haku couldn't believe what she was seeing. _'This boy, what IS he?! This chakra...so powerful and filled with rage...'_ She thought in a panic. She lashed out, hoping to take Naruto down before things got worse, but her senbon were swatted away like they were toys.

Outside the dome, Kakashi, Zabuza, and Ichigo halted when they felt the Kyuubi chakra. "What is that?! What's going on?!" Zabuza asked in a slight panic.

"The Kyuubi...Is it breaking free?" Kakashi wondered aloud.

"No. I can sense that Uzumaki is still in control. He is now becoming a true jinchuriki, able to control some of the demon's power."

Zabuza couldn't believe what he just heard. "That blonde brat is a jinchuriki?! Of the Kyuubi?!" He shouted, wondering just what he had gotten into. He knew about jinchiriki and he knew that messing with them is as near to suicidal as one could get. Even one who could control a mere fraction of their beast's power was still a massive threat.

Kakashi began to stand up and was about to go and try to stop Naruto, but Ichigo held him back. "Let him deal with this on his own He has his own battle under control, unlike yours."

With Tazuna and Sakura, they felt the overwhelming power that exploded from the dome and could see a blood red haze inside. Neither one of them had ever felt that kind of power before. They remained rooted to their spots, not wanting to go near the source.

Inside the dome, Naruto was kicking the crap out of Haku, finally bashing him through one of his mirrors and disrupted the jutsu, subsequentially shattering the rest of the mirrors. Naruto continued to rain blows down on the now helpless Haku in a berserker rage, leaving her looking as though she'd been mauled. He finally finished up with a punch to the heart.

The face mask he wore cracked and fell away, revealing a face that the young blonde knew very well. He let his rage fall away and stared in horror. It was Haku beautiful face. "Naru...to-kun...This is how...it was meant to be...You did nothing wrong." She told Naruto with a sad smile.

"No...this feels...so wrong!"

"Naruto-kun...you only did this to avenge...one of your precious people. I'm glad...that I got...to know you." Haku told him as life faded from her eyes.

"I'm glad too, Haku." He replied with tears in his eyes, closing Haku's for her. Sakura shot past him to get to Sasuke who she was busy crying over.

"Sasuke-kun!!" She wailed loudly over his body. Naruto felt terrible, but he was too numb from his own troubles to be of much help.

Before anyone could move or do anything else, the sound of clapping came from the other side of the bridge. There stood Gatou and a small army of his thugs. "Bravo. Thanks for killing that brat and saving me the trouble, kid. She broke my arm, so death would have been the least of her worries. I would have made use of her until there was nothing left." He sneered as he kicked Haku's corpse.

"You bastard!!!" Naruto roared as he began to charge, but was stopped by the ANBU nin. "Uzumaki, calm down." He ordered calmly but firmly.

Zabuza turned his attention to the fat man. "What are doing here, Gatou?" He snarled. "I told you I'd do the job."

"Why pay you when I could just have them weaken you and then kill you all? I could keep my money and had over your head to the Mizukage for your bounty." He told them with a cruel laugh.

"So, you were going to betray us all along, you little pig-man. I should have just killed you." He growled as he turned to the Konoha ninja. "ANBU-san, Hatake. The old man is safe from me. You're not my enemy anymore." He told them as he faced the small mercenary army with his Kubikiri Houchou at the ready.

Ichigo sighed behind his mask. "Very well, Kijin no Kiri. Uzumaki, Hatake. Back away. This is his fight now."

They complied and the heavily wounded Zabuza took off like a shot into the throng of men. He fought like a man possessed, a demon. But in the end, he was still mortal, as he was taking lethal damage. He managed to rip through the crowd and reach Gatou. With the last of his strength, his relieved Gatou's shoulders of his head and collapsed in a bloody heap.

The thugs were all outraged. "He killed our meal ticket!! Let's raid the village and take it all!!" They clamored.

_'This is bad. I've got no choice but to use it.'_ Ichigo decided in his thoughts as he began to gather as much water and wind as he could around the crowd. His concentraition was obvious, as he was glowing a gentle blue as he did it. When he finally had enough, he let it all go. Wind and Water dragons literally began to rain down on them, ripping and shredding them all in a bloody and violent show.

When the final dragons fell, there were only a small handful left alive. "Looks like I missed a few. Easily correctable." He commented as he flickered over to them in a burst of speed and released his Viper Blade. One lash rended two in half with disturbing ease as he continued to slaughter the last of them. Two slashes later, it was all over.

Inari showed up with the villagers. They looked like they were ready for war, arming themselves with crossbows, pitchforks, axes and other tools. Ichigo turned to them. "Sorry, but you're a little late to the party." He told them in a sheepish tone, chuckling a little bit. "Looks like I overdid it a bit." He commented lamely as he made his way over to where Zabuza lay.

Naruto couldn't help hearing that. "A little bit?! That was little for you?!!? I'd hate to see what you'd consider overkill!!" He exclaimed.

Kakashi had the same sentiments. He'd never seen someone with such a powerful command over wind or water like him. I was like he owned the two elements, bending them to is will. _'I can't copy this! What the hell is he doing?!'_ He thought as he covered up his Sharingan eye to save chakra. _'Who is he? Never seen or heard to him before. This is something I'll have to ask the Hokage about when we get back.'_

"Hey, ANBU-san. Could you...carry me over to where Haku is?" Zabuza asked him in labored breaths as his time grew short. Ichigo nodded solemnly and granted his request. He carried Zabuza over to the girl's body and laid him down beside her. "Thank you..." He told the masked blonde as he turned his attention to the girl his thought of as his daughter. "I'm sorry, Haku. I...should have done better...you deserved better. I hope that you don't go where I'm going and that you'll be happy there. Good...bye." He said in pain as he regarded Ichigo again. "I have...one final request. I'd...like to see the face... of the one who avenged me." He confided in him.

Ichigo nodded his head while pulling his mask off slightly so the dying man could see his face.

Zabuza gave him a proud smirk, knowing that the ANBU gave him the rare honor of seeing his face, dying with that same expression on his own. Naruto stood off to the side, bowing his head in respect for the deceased as Ichigo closed his eyes for the final time.

He stood up slowly, concentraiting hard as he held his hands in front of him as water collected around him. Suddenly, a small tidal wave crashed over the bridge and washed away the bodies of the thugs and most of the blood.

"There. Clean up mostly done." He commented as he turned to Team 7.

He walked over to where Sasuke lay and checked him. He knew the boy wasn't dead, so he pryed the near hysterical Sakura off of him and pulled the senbon from his neck carefully, bringing him back to consciousness almost immeadiately. "He'll live. He got off easy compared to your teammate, who did the brunt of the fighting and took the opponent down. Why haven't you checked on him yet?" He questioned.

Sakura tried to defend her actions, but came up with nothing to say, thanks to her Inner burning away at her other persona's selfish reasonings with ruthless efficiency.

When he got no answer from her, he sighed, created two Kage Bunshin, and turned to the rest of the party. "Kakashi, order your team to the client's residence to re-group and recover from their fatigue and wounds." He commanded while giving it instructions to escort the team, the client and his family to their house and await him. "I will take care of the bodies of Momochi and his apprentice." He finished as he and the remaining clone went to go bury the bodies properly.

Naruto sprung to his side. "Could...I go with you? To help bury them, I mean. Haku...was just like me, and I killed her. I feel like I owe her this much." He asked the tall ANBU sadly.

He looked to Kakashi and saw that he brooked no argument with that desicion, or more like he was too busy with the Uchiha to care. "Okay. Follow me, Uzumaki. We'll bury them on the bluffs over looking the bridge." He told him.

The two of them set off with the bodies as Sakura watched the two of them with mixed emotions, as her two personas were still struggling for dominance within her. Her inner wondered if Naruto was handling his first kill alright and was worried about him, as he DID do most of the fighting and took down a strong opponent. That same side was also wondering what that red chakra was and just who that ANBU that saved their sensei and their team. He was powerful, very powerful if he could just eradicate that many mercenaries in one blow. Her fangirl persona was, sadly, still harping on about how Naruto was just a murderer now and that he stole Sasuke's victory from him, but was frightened of the ANBU, whom she thought was a monster for killing that many people in cold blood.

On the cliffs, Kitsune and Naruto had just finished laying Zabuza to rest, plunging his zanbatou into the ground to act as a headstone. As they reach for Haku, they saw that she was moving ever so slightly. Naruto's eyes flew wide.

"HAKU-CHAN!!!" He cried as he contacted Saki. _"Saki, can you help her?! Please!" _He pleaded with the Fox demoness. She was one of the first friends his own age that he had and he was going to do whatever it took to save her.

Saki reached out and sensed her faint life force._** "Naru-chan, I can't promise you anything, but I'll try. Place your palm over her heart and I'll do the rest."**_ She ordered.

Naruto complied and let Saki's crimson chakra flow into the near-dead girl's body. Slowly, color started to return to her cheeks and her breathing steadied.

Ichigo watched on in awe. He knew exactly what was going on, but Saki's power never ceased to amaze him. He was glad that this girl was being given a second chance at life. She seemed like she was very kind and from what Naruto told him, he almost saw her like a big sister. He paused, however, when he thought of how to explain this to the Hokage.

_'How AM I going to spin this with the old man?'_ He thought as his brows furrowed. _'I guess I'll play this by ear. I just gotta be careful about it. I have a bad feeling that if the fact that she has an unknown bloodline gets out to the wrong people before I have measures in place, the council will try to whore her out to the Uchiha. I can't and won't let that happen, for her sake and for Naruto's.'_ He added. He already knew that Kakashi and Sasuke would have to be watched very carefully and if they showed signs of harming her or Naruto in any way, he'd take care of it personally, then hand them over to Anko and Ibiki when they got back.

Naruto was clutching Haku for dear life, just glad that she wasn't dead.

"Haku-neechan..." He sobbed into her battle kimono. Haku was still trying to shake the cobwebs from her head as she heard him crying.

"I'm...not dead?" She breathed out.

"No, you're not Haku-neechan!" He told her happily.

She looked over at the tall ANBU next to him nervously, but something about his aura calmed her down considerably. "Don't worry, Haku-san. I will not harm you. I wish to extend to you an invitation to join Konoha, since you were never a registered kunoichi and you have no alliegences. I will bring you before the Hokage personally and will make sure that no harm befalls you." He told her softly with a slight bow.

Neither Haku or Naruto could believe it. Haku couldn't believe that the solution to her problem had been offered to her and Naruto was shocked that this ANBU was being so nice. He had been cordial to him and treated him like a person. Now, his new precious person was going to live in his village and again this ANBU member helped him.

Haku's head was spinning from all of the news, both good and bad. The good news was that she and Zabuza were no longer under Gatou's thumb and neither was Wave Country. Zabuza had personally slayed the tyrannical businessman and she now had safe passage into Fire Country and even an invite to become a Konoha shinobi. However, she had lost Zabuza. She was happy, though, that he had been avenged by the tall ANBU before her and she at least knew that Zabuza cared for her as if she were his own daughter. She and Naruto passed out from exhaustion shortly afterward.

Kitsune sighed as he collected both of the kids in his arms and left the area in a cyclone of water, bound for Tazuna's house.

_A/N: 9th Chapter down , ? to go. Who knows where this is going to stop? To those who like this story and always add it to their favorites, please tell me what you think of it. Just spare a few moments and words to tell me how I'm doing. Ciao!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hey y'all! Back again with another installment of A Fragment of the Past. I'm starting to feel a little better now and with that, my creative mojo is back! I was on a roll with this chapter and to those who wanted a little Naru/hina fluff, ask and ye shall receive!_

_**TWO WEEKS LATER. SEPTEMBER 8TH**_

It has been two weeks and Tazuna's bridge was finally completed, with Team 7 leaving shortly after the commissioning ceremony. Tazuna decided to name his new creation the Great Kitsune Bridge, after the spectre he saw comforting Naruto that one night on the roof of his house.

During the two weeks of peace, Kakashi spent his time training Sasuke, Sakura watching them, and Naruto being left on his own. He mostly trained by himself or was looking after Haku, who was still in no condition to be walking around. More than once, he had to defend her from Sasuke and Kakashi. Thankfully, they stopped hounding her after his newfound ANBU friend exerted his authority over them, telling them that she was under his protection as she was to go before the Hokage as a possible recruit.

Tazuna and Tsunami were far more understanding about the young lady's predicament. She was merely paid to do a job, nothing personal about. Besides, Inari took to her as an older sister figure almost as quickly as Naruto did and Tsunami found her to be a very pleasant girl, as well as a fairly good cook.

Ichigo was not happy with the way Kakashi trained his team, or rather, the lack there of. He quickly decided to confront Hatake about his training method concerning his team and give him a chance to change his ways.

"Hatake, why do you not include young Uzumaki or Miss Haruno in on your training? Surely he could benefit from some extra instruction from you." He pointed out.

Kakashi got an annoyed look on his face at the mere mention of training the boy. "I need to focus on Sasuke now that his Sharingan has awakened. Naruto would only be in the way and he doesn't have the talent for my training, anyway. Sakura is fine right where she is. I only need her for Sasuke's morale, anyway. That is why I wanted her."

This answer made him seeth with barely contained rage, but he managed to somehow calm down. "Why throw away the student who saved your skin and helped make this mission a success? He shows signs of promise and potential as well. Not many Genin, if any, could have done what he did." He commented.

Kakashi's visage took on a hard look. "I will train my team as I see fit. The Uzumaki was the dead last of his class, nothing but an embarrassing failure! Besides, I didn't want him on this team to begin with." He replied coldly.

Ichigo knew that Naruto was nearby and heard everything.

"So be it." Was all he said, then disappeared in a small cyclone of water.

He popped up next to Naruto. "I trust you heard everything?"

Naruto could only nod, clenching his fists so hard that he was drawing blood. "I knew it...That bastard! He only cares about everyone's precious 'Sasuke-kun'." He replied, saying the name in a falsetto that imitated the way all of those hormone-driven fan-girls back home and here said it.

"He chewed me out when I beat those two missing nin on the way here. Then, he tried to force me to give that brooding turd all my jutsu that I worked hard to learn. Now, he's mad at me for beating somebody that kicked his royal highness's ass! He won't teach me anything like a sensei should! Instead, he ignores me except to yell at me or scold me for something." He finished sadly, almost yelling.

Ichigo was almost boiling over with anger. To him, a sensei abandoning his student was an unforgivable act of betrayal. It then came to him. He could still train the boy, even under this guise. "Naruto-kun, how would you like it if I were to train you, if only for a little while. I could teach you how to handle a weapon if you wished." He offered, to which the young blonde accepted eagerly.

Over the next two weeks, Ichigo trained Naruto in the use of a short blade, giving him the kodachi that was sheathed on his lower back. The boy proved to be no slouch with it, either. He was always a more kinesthetic learner, meaning he learned by actually doing something than by theory alone, which accounted for his atrocious grades to an extent. Haku lent a hand in teaching him a few more chakra control exersices, along with starting to teach him who to throw senbon like her. She got the same impression that Kitsune got, that he learned by doing, which made it that much easier for her to teach him.

_**KONOHA MAIN GATES SEPTEMBER 9TH 0834 HRS**_

It took far less time for the team to reach Konoha than getting to Wave, due to them now being able to travel through the trees, especially since Haku was well enough to travel. They reached the gates of the village by the next morning and the weary team trekked up to the Hokage's office to make their report. Naruto still had the short blade that Kitsune gave to him holstered in the same place the his ANBU companion did. The whole way back, he practiced quick-drawing his new blade, which felt oddly natural to him.

Sasuke was stewing in rage the entire way back, glaring at Naruto and Haku with an intense hatred. He was told the Naruto defeated the hunter-nin that beat him so easily. He was even angrier with the fact that Haku hadn't even aimed to kill, just to incapacitate. It made him look weak. Worse yet, Haku turned out to be a girl, who he viewed as both weak and as breeding stock.

Ichigo, still under his ANBU alias, accompanied them into the Hokage's office, as he still had a report to file of his own, as well as a surprize. He discreetly created a Kage Bunshin and sent it ahead to deliver his report to the Hokage. As much as he wanted to bash Kakashi's head in and leave his corpse to rot, he had to be smart about this, for Naruto's and Haku's sake, so included with his report, he requested that Inoichi Yamanaka be on hand to examine memories and act as a lie detector.

Kakashi knocked on the door and requested permission to enter. "Team 7, Kitsune. Please enter and make your reports." Sarutobi called from his desk. The aforementioned people entered the room and filed before the Hokage for debriefing.

Sarutobi had been told of what really happened and arranged for Inoichi to be on hand for the debriefing. He was also told about Haku and her special abilities, which were somewhat similar to his own, except Haku needed handseals and he didn't. Ichigo also included a warning that he shouldn't tell the council about her, as he could already predict what they'd do, marry her off to the Uchiha. In so doing, he requested that he could take her in a his ward to better protect her from the vultures that sat on the council.

The Hokage's two advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, were in attendance, to Kakashi's surprize. Normally, they wouldn't be there, but he surmised that since it was Sasuke's first mission outside of the village, they would want to hear about it personally. He stepped up and made his report, telling them that Sasuke saved the mission and that Naruto was a discipline problem and only got in the way.

Sakura, or more specifically Inner Sakura, listened on in total disgust for the man who had the nerve to call himself a sensei. She knew the truth. Naruto saved their lives more than once on that mission and proved himself to be a very reliable shinobi, one she would breath easier to go on a mission with.

Sasuke listened on with a smug grin on his face while he looked over at Naruto, who was doing his best to maintain a calm and professional visage and not call out Kakashi as a liar. He knew that Kakashi would give him the credit for everything and was certain that Sakura wouldn't say anything. He admitted to himself that she was finally useful for something.

Naruto was exceedingly angry with Kakashi right now. He knew that Kakashi would try to make an issue of his using Saki's chakra and that was why he sent his so-called teammates outside. The cycloptic Jounin was telling the old man and his advisors that he was a danger to his team and didn't want him around anymore.

Haku herself was radiating anger, her rage rolling off of her in waves. She knew that that one-eyed jackass was lying and making the arrogant Uchiha out to be a fucking war hero when he was the first to fall. The supposedly superior Genin failed miserably against Zabuza and fell to her without much effort. I was the one who Kakashi was disparaging and degrading that saved his team and even herself from death.

Kitsune stood right next to Naruto in perfect silence, listening to the report. He sensed that Naruto's tension was skyrocketing and he placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, calming him down and letting him know in his own way that everything would pan out somehow.

He mustered up a scowl under his mask._ 'Just you wait, you one-eyed bastard. I've got surprize for you that'll really shake things up.' _ He thought with a evil smirk.

"And that is all." Kakashi finished with his report. Sarutobi sighed heavily while rubbing his eyes slightly. He knew that Kakashi was lying already. Kitsune had already sent back a partial report on Kakashi's conduct and a few hours ago the full report. It was already a massive disappointment on the cycloptic Jounin's part. The Sandaime was also highly displeased with 'advisors' reactions. They read Ichigo's report, but refused to believe it.

"Do you have anything else to add?" The elderly shinobi asked him with narrowed eyes.

Kakashi flipped out his Icha Icha book and began to read it with a bored expression. "Yes. I do." He replied with a matching bored tone.

"I would like to know just who this ANBU is. He took control of my team and critisized my training methods, taking Naruto off to the side and giving him a bit of weapons training and gave him a weapon that I never approved of. On top of that, he protected an enemy shinobi who was thought to be dead."

The Hokage turned to Naruto and his new sister figure. "Naruto-kun, Haku-chan, could you wait in the Jounin Lounge until I call for you? I'll have Genma escort you there." He told the two while he asked said shinobi to take him there.

Genma Shiranui was one of the Jounin who actually liked Naruto and knew him for who he really was. "Alright kids, let's go. By the way, nice blade you've got there, Naruto." He told Naruto with a grin. Naruto looked over to Kitsune, who nodded, as he went over to the Jounin Lounge.

As soon as they were gone, he turned to Kitsune and asked him to stand beside his desk, facing Kakashi. "Now, Kakashi Hatake. We will see what you have been hiding from us." He told him as he called for Inoichi Yamanaka to come in, followed by Anko Mitarashi, both of whom gave the Copy-nin a death glare that could melt steel.

This nearly made Kakashi have a heart attack. Two of the most imfamous interrogators in the known world were here in this office, itching to drag some answers out of him. He tried to maintain an air of indifference, but his rising panic made that more and more difficult by the second, especially when Anko put on one of her most soul-chilling grins while cracking her knuckles.

"Anko and Inoichi are here to see just how much of the truth you told us, Kakashi. Your past track record has left doubts as to how you handle Naruto's safety and well being, so I had Kitsune here tail your team for the entirety of the mission, intervening only when the situation was dire. He was ordered to submit his own report and I must say that I am very disappointed. Now, sit down in that chair. Inoichi and Anko will observe your memories and give their professional opinions on how to interpret what they find." He stated as he ordered Inoichi to begin.

_**HOKAGE TOWER : JOUNIN LOUNGE**_

In the Jounin lounge, Naruto and Haku sat on one of the sofas, awaiting the call to return to the Hokage's office. Haku was curious as to why he was so hated by his team and his sensei, and if the red chakra that he used had anything to do with it.

"Otouto-kun, I have a small question for you." She ventured to ask.

"Ummm, sure Nee-chan. Fire away." He replied while munching on a biscuit that was available in the lounge.

She could tell that this would be a sensitive subject, but she needed to know. "What was that red chakra you used to fight me on the bridge? I felt the same chakra when you revived me on the bluffs. Is it some sort Kekkei Genkai?" She asked in a hushed tone.

Naruto nearly choked on the confection he was eating in surprize. He was in a panic, as he didn't know how she'd take knowing his secret. If she started to hate him like everyone else did, he'd go insane.

As he wallowed in self-pity for a brief moment, he suddenly remembered something, she had already seen him in his Tailed Beast state, so she knew something was up, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

_ 'I might be able to tell her...Here's hopin'.'_ He thought.

He cleared his throat and told her his story, warts and all. Haku weighed what she was told very carefully. Her logic told her that he was extremely dangerous, but her heart told her that he was a very kind hearted boy with a terrible burden on his shoulders. From what she learned of the Kyuubi, she seemed to be very kind as well. The Kyuubi was, after all, the one who made her survival possible.

Naruto was very nervious about how she'd take it. He sat there on the sofa, waiting for her to respond, eyes screwed shut. He was waiting for her to shout or hit him, but was shocked out of his gourd when she embraced him gently. "Your life has been harsh, but you've grown up just fine so far. I'd love to be part of your life, my otouto." She whispered into his ear.

Naruto let go of the breath he was holding in, as well as letting out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, sis. That means a lot, y'know?" He told her.

Naruto spent the remaining time they had in the Jounin Lounge telling her the finer details of his life, such as friends and people he knew. He even told her about the girl he used to like and the one he sort of likes now, Hinata Hyuuga.

Haku giggled as her newly developed big sister sense kicked in. "So, Naru-chan. This girl you like, could you introduce us? I think I'd like to get to know her." She chuckled.

The 15 year old girl also wanted to meet all of the people who've helped her new little brother, especially Ichigo, Anko and the Ichiraku's. These people were among the ones who have had impact on his life, and she wanted to thank them.

Genma and his long time buddy Raido Namiashi watched the pair from the doorway as they bantered back and forth with a grin. "They really do seem like siblings, close ones at that." Genma commented.

Raido chuckled lightly. "Yeah, they do. The kid deserves it after all this village has put him through."

_**HOKAGE TOWER : HOKAGE'S OFFICE**_

An hour had passed since Inoichi had made his dive into Kakashi's head. Anko was starting to get fidgety and Kitsune was slightly pensive himself, bouncing on his toes slightly to keep his feet from falling asleep. Sarutobi was watching his two former teammates with a calculating gaze. He knew they were up to something, but couldn't tell what yet. He was glad, however, that Ichigo had put him on his guard against the council.

Inoichi's body started to twitch, then he opened his eyes, blinking slowly as he got his vision back into focus. He turned to Kakashi with a scathing glare.

"You thieving bastard..." He snarled angrily.

This reaction really grabbed Sarutobi's attention. "Inoichi, what did you see?" He asked the mind jutsu expert.

The Yamanaka patriarche turned to face the rest of the rooms occupants and delivered his findings.

"Everything mentioned in ANBU operative Kitsune's reports are 100% accurate. Kakashi Hatake has been lying to us. He intentionally stunted Naruto Uzumaki's growth as per the orders of someone on the council, although who we do not know, so that his death will come while out on a mission while giving Sasuke Uchiha all of his jutsu and skills, including ones that he stole from our own shinobi, trying to force Naruto to do the same. Furthermore, I did some digging around and found some memories of his days on the Naruto protection squad some years back and found that he and his team intentionally lead the boy INTO ambushes and only jumped in when Naruto was just a hare away from death." He growled in barely constrained rage.

Anko turned to the copy-nin with a snarl and punched the man with all of her might. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!" She roared with tears of rage in her honey-colored eyes.

The Snake Mistress wasn't through with him yet, as she yanked him up by the collar of his vest and punched him in the stomach, making him double over.

"How DARE you do that to a Naruto, let alone any child! How dare you abandon your other students just to suck up to that little shit stain Uchiha?! You're lucky you're not under an official interrogation, otherwise I'd make you into my special project and practice my nastiest techniques on you, regardless of how much you squeal." She spat at him as she walked back over to where Inoichi, Sarutobi and Kitsune.

Inoichi knew quite well why Anko was so upset with Kakashi. She saw Naruto as somewhat of a kindred spirit, a baby brother of sorts. When she was on Naruto's protection squad, she took her job very seriously. She was almost in tears when she was taken off of the detail and replaced with Kakashi due to the councils whims. She had to stand by and watch as he was abused over and over again.

Ichigo was very glad that he was watching over his last living descendant. This dispicable bastard was planning on getting Naruto killed on a mission just because some elitist asswipe on the council told him to, as well as because he blamed the kid for all of his problems, just like the other idiots of this village.

Sarutobi sat in his chair, stewing in anger over what Kakashi had done. He stood to his full height, quite tall in his old age, to deliver his verdict.

"Kakashi Hatake, you have just been proven guilty of falsifying an offical mission report, blatant favortism, and malicious conduct unbecoming a shinobi of your current status. You are hereby relieved as the Jounin Sensei of Team 7. You are also forbidden from interfering with their new sensei and his or her training methods. In fact, I already have one in mind." He announced as he turned towards Kitsune.

"Kitsune, would you please go to the Jounin Lounge and retrieve Naruto-kun and Haku-chan. Also, please tell Sasuke and Sakura to come back in, as well."

With a nod, he vanished in a small watery cyclone. A couple of moments later, he arrived in the same fashion with Naruto and Haku in tow to see that the rest of Team 7 was present, as well.

The elderly Hokage adressed the team. "Team 7, due to your sensei's inability to teach fairly and tell the truth, he has been relieved as your Jounin sensei." He announced.

The jaws of everyone on Team 7 hit the deck, but their thoughts differed. Sasuke scoffed. He felt the Kakashi was expendible and believed that the council would just command the new sensei to pick up where he left off.

Sakura had two different opinions. Her fangirl persona didn't care, as long as Sasuke was still on her team, she was good. Inner Sakura, however, was dancing with joy. She believed that Kakashi got what was coming to him.

Naruto was doing a little victory dance on the inside, as well. Kakashi wasn't much of a sensei to him at all. He never encouraged him, helped him understand anything, or even talked to him outside of yelling at him. He was glad that the one-eyed pervert finally got what he deserved.

The two elders were sputtering incoherently. "Hiruzen, this is outragous! Hatake is the only one who can teach Uchiha-sama how to use the Sharingan! We demand that he be reinstated as the sensei at once!" Koharu shouted with Homura nodding in agreement.

Sarutobi was livid. These two have grown increasingly arrogant over the years, constantly overstepping their bounds and placing Naruto's life in peril with their demands and decsions. Enough was enough.

"Koharu, Homura. Tell me. Out of all the people in this room, who is the Hokage?" He asked with barely maintained calm.

They looked at each other, puzzled. "Why, you are, of course. What are you getting at?" Homura demanded.

"Correct." He answered before he switched gears. "I AM THE HOKAGE!!! YOU TWO ARE ADVISORS!! YOU ADVISE, YOU ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO DEMAND ANYTHING!!! MY DECSION IS FINAL, SO LEAVE NOW!!!" He roared, his killing intent seeming inhuman at the moment, but the only one unaffected at all was Kitsune, stall tall and steadfast. The two advisors cowered out of the office with Kakashi close behind them as he sank into his chair for a moments rest before continuing where he left off.

"As I was saying, I have your new sensei already lined up and he is currently in this room." He commented as he turned to the ANBU in the room.

"Kitsune, come forward and remove your mask." He ordered.

Kitsune nodded. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

Kitsune slowly removed his mask and revealed his true identity, which blew the minds of everyone there.

Naruto was the first to recover. "I-Ichigo-san?! Kitsune was really you?!"

Ichigo winced at the volume of the boy, but he still chuckled. "Yep, that was me, alright! Man, it felt good to cut loose a little bit back at the bridge! I needed the anger relief!" He commented merrily as if it were the most common thing in the world while stretching his arms with a fox-like grin that was disturbingly like Naruto's.

Haku was next. "So, you are the Ichigo that Naru-chan told me about." She said in an appraising manner. "You know, he holds you in the highest regard, and I can see why." She told him with a soft smile.

Sasuke was smirking widely. Now that he had his Sharingan activated, he could just take the man's secrets instead of learning them.

Sakura was torn between sheer terror and fascination. The fangirl side was terrified of the seemingly happy-go-lucky Jounin, but Inner Sakura was almost drawn to him with fascination and respect for his abilities.

_** "I can't wait to see what kind of sensei he turns out to be!"**_ I.S chirped happily.

_"That homicidal maniac is our new sensei?! What if he tried to hurt Sasuke-kun?!"_ F.G moaned and shrieked until I.S shut her up.

_**"Quiet. We'll actually learn something from this guy, not like that no-load Hatake. He just used us as that stupid Uchiha's cheering section!"**_

___"But I liked watching Sasuke-kun train!"_

_**"That attitude nearly got us killed! Naruto-kun offered to let us train with him, but you, you dumbass, turned it down, saying that 'Sasuke-kun doesn't like sweaty girls!'. That was total bullshit!"**_

As her inner personalities waged the next shinobi war inside her head, Anko walked up to Ichigo.

"You had me worried, buster." She playfully chided him.

"Sorry, Anko-chan. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone and I had to leave kinda suddenly." He explained sheepishly.

Anko chuckled lightly. "I'll forgive you...If you take me out to dinner tonight." He told him in a slightly husky voice.

Ichigo sighed in defeat. He knew that they were becoming close, but this was the next step forward and he knew that Shiina wouldn't want him to mope around forever. In fact, she'd probably kick his ass for doing just that. He knew exactly where she wanted to go and made a note to draw his mission pay before he left the tower. He'd need it.

"Fine, dango feast it is, then." He sighed. He could already feel his wallet screaming in agony.

Anko, to his surprize, looked at him strangely. "Who said anything about dango? I'd actually like to go to a real restaurant. You know, the whole dress up and go out thing?" She admitted, blushing slightly.

Sarutobi and Inoichi smirked at her bashfulness. "My, my. Our resident T and I mistress, who can make S-ranked criminal crap themselves in fear, blushing like a schoolgirl?" The elder blonde teased.

"Oh, shut up." She huffed while crossing her arms. "So what if I want to act like a normal girl for once?"

Ichigo's expression went from surprize to a wide smile. "Hey, ask and ye shall recieve, my lady." He told her playfully while he bowed and took her hand. "How about...6:00 P.M tonight at Dagashiya's?" He proposed.

Her smile told him all he needed to know. "Right. I'll pick you up at 6 sharp, Anko-chan." He told her flirtingly with a wink as she and Inoichi went to leave.

Inoichi stopped for a moment to talk with the younger blonde. "Hey kid, stop by my flower shop before you pick her up. Akari is going to want to hook you up for your first date." He whispered to him as he nudged him lightly in the side.

"Next order of business is what to do about young Miss Momochi?" Sarutobi asked Ichigo.

The elderly Hokage was given a basic run down of her abilities and his rough estimation of her abilities. "Her ninjutsu and control are around high Chunnin, bordering on Special Jounin. Her Taijutsu is mid Chunnin, as she was easily able to keep up with Sasuke, who had his Sharingan active during the fight, but her speed is at least Special Jounin. She didn't seem to use any Genjutsu, so I can't give you an estimation there." He explained.

Sarutobi thought it over for a moment before answering. "We'll have to test her out at Chunnin and work from there. I'll arrange for a skills test next week. Now, Miss Momochi. It has come to my attention the one of my Jounin would like to sponser you and take you in as a ward and become your legal guardian." He told her with a smile.

Haku was shocked that someone was willing to take her in already, but was wary of who. "Begging your pardon, Hokage-sama, but who is this person?" She asked him politely.

The old man chuckled slightly. "Why, he's standing right next to you." He answered.

Ichigo looked down at her with one of his more pleasant smiles, nodding his head to confirm what the Hokage just told her. The teenage girl threw her arms around the waist of the much taller blonde's waist and sobbed happily. She was scared that she would go to someone who would whore her out and a breeding tool or use her themselves. She was glad that the one who avenged her master was the one who took her into his custody. On top of that, she would be Naruto's neighbor, meaning that she would always be close.

Sarutobi called the briefing to a close and shooed everyone out of his office as he still had paperwork to do._ 'Do me proud, Ichigo-kun. I know you will.'_

_**KONOHA STREETS 1230 HRS**_

Team 7 had broken up for the day, drawn their mission pay, and went their seperate ways. Sasuke stalked off to the Uchiha district, Sakura went home and Haku, Naruto, and Ichigo went to go have lunch at Ichiraku's.

Upon arrival, the Ichiraku's were overjoyed that their favorite customers were finally back in town. Ayame nearly vaulted over the counter to hug her adopted little brother, with Teuchi letting out a deep belly laugh from the kitchen.

"Naru-chan!! You're finally back and you're okay! I can't even begin to tell you how worried I was!" She told him as the ramen girl fussed over him like a mother hen, making Haku giggle.

The giggle caught her attention. "Oh? And who is this Naru-chan?" She asked, looking at Haku.

"Her name is Haku! She's sorta like another Nee-chan to me!" He told her merrily before he leaned in closer. "She knows about my...tenent and she doesn't care about it!" He whispered happily.

Ayame's eyes flew wide before she pulled Haku into a hug. "Thank you, Haku-chan. You have no idea how much this means to us. Now, you've become part of the family."

Haku just smiled warmly. "He's become very precious to me, he's my little otouto-kun. Actually, he's OUR little Naru-chan."

The banter went on until the ramen hit the table, but carried on a little further. "So Naru-chan, this Hinata girl that you like, she's that same cute girl you bring here on a regular basis?" Haku asked him.

"Uh, yeah. I like her, but then again, her clan is like, one of the most powerful and richest in the village. She's like a princess, being the heiress and all. I don't know what her dad'll do to her if he found out that I liked her."

Haku was puzzled, but Ayame filled her in on what was going on. Afterwards, her soft brown eyes were filled with sad understanding. "I see. The princess and the pauper, falling in love." She murmured before Ichigo chimed in.

"Don't worry about her family, kiddo. I'll handle them if it boils down to that. Just go ahead and ask her out officially. We'll back you up. Anko will, too." He told the younger blonde inbetween bites of his ramen.

Naruto's head snapped up. "Hey, sensei? What about that date with Anko-sensei tonight? Don't you have to get ready?"

"It's not till 6 tonight. I've still got plenty of time, but after lunch, I need to go a speak to Sakura's parents, being her new sensei and all." He stated.

Ayame and Teuchi took on a pair of sly grins. "A date, huh? With Anko Mitarashi? Good luck, m'boy!" Teuchi laughed while slapping him on the back.

The rest of lunch went quickly as they split up, Naruto taking Haku on a tour of the village and Ichigo to have a talk with the Haruno's. Naruto and Haku were walking down main street Konoha, with Naruto showing her where everything is, when they bumped into Kiba Inuzuka of all people.

"Hey Dobe, who's the hot chick? Your new girlfriend?" He sneered at him while leering at Haku.

"Go away, Kiba. I'm just showing Haku-nee around the village." He explained in a strained voice.

"So she's not your girl? Heh, she was too good for a dobe like you, anyway. She belongs with a better specimen like me. I'm stronger and better than you, not to mention you're just a stupid orphan that nobody cares about."

The orphan comment sparked Haku's anger. This arrogant mongrel before her was really starting to piss her off.

"Excuse me, Kiba-san?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice that promised great pain, but he was too drenched in hormones to notice.

Kiba slipped his arm around her waist dispite Naruto's protests. "What is it, babe?" He cooed.

Haku grabbed his wrist and twisted it to the breaking point with one lightning quick motion. "You not only insult my otouto, but you insult orphans, which I am also, and you proceed to touch me without my permission. I should just kill you where you stand, but it will cause trouble for Naru-kun amd Ichigo-ojisan. I suggest that you leave immeadiately and trouble us no more." She snarled at him as she shoved him away.

Kiba cradled his wrist as he glared at the pair. "I get you, dobe. Hinata will be mine, too. She's too good to be around trash like you. She belongs to me!" He snarled as he ran off.

Haku glared at the Inuzuka heir as he ran away. "The nerve of that chauvanistic jerk..." She grumbled before cheering back up. "Shall we go now, Naru-chan?" She asked.

"Uh, y-yeah. Sure, Haku-nee." He replied nerviously, as they continued their tour. No more than 30 minutes later, they ran into Hinata herself, but the look on her face told him that something was very wrong.

"Hinata-chan? What's the matter? Are you okay?" He asked the Hyuuga heiress.

"N-Naruto-kun...Is it true? You have a girlfriend and she's pregnant?" She squeaked out.

"I-I thought that...you liked me..." She choked out as she buried her face in her hands.

Naruto looked on in puzzlement and confusion until it hit him. _'Kiba...That rat bastard...'_ He snarled as he set himself to damage control.

"Hinata-chan, who told you that?"

"K-Kiba-san did, a few minutes ago." She answered.

_'I knew it. I should have removed a limb when I had the chance.'_ Haku growled as she tried to calm the crying girl down.

"There, there, Hinata-chan. The Inuzuka was just angry that I wouldn't go out with him, so he told you that vile lie." She explained to the girl softly.

Hinata looked up hopefully at the older girl. "I-is that true?"

Naruto and Haku spent the next 20 minutes explaining the circumstances surrounding how they met and their sibling relationship. Hinata let out a relieved sigh.

"I see, thank you, Haku-san. I was so scared that he was taken away from me before we even had a chance to go out."

Naruto froze. "Y-You mean, you want to go out with me, too?"

Hinata giggled lightly. "I've wanted to ask you out for a long time now, Naruto-kun. Kurenai-sensei and Ichigo-sensei both said that I should give it a try, so here we are." The pale eyed girl confessed as she embraced him gently.

All Naruto could do was give the biggest grin he ever had in his life and hug her back tightly, sighing contently as Haku watched on happily.

"This has been an awesome day already. Say, Hina-chan? You wanna go out for some dinner tonight?" He asked his new girlfriend.

"Sure, Naru-kun. Tonight at Dagashiya's, 6 P.M?"

"Hey, thats when Sensei has his date with Anko-san! Same place, too!"

"Well then, we'll have company!" The Hyuuga girl chirped cheerfully, making Naruto smile. The downtrodden girl she once was is now no more. This cheerful and up beat young woman had risen in her place. She was now far more confident in herself, thanks in parts to Kurenai, Anko, and Ayame, who all worked with her on that issue.

_**FLASHBACK**_

Her new found confidence also worked itself into her training, as she was now the one dominating the sparring sessions between her and her sister. Now, she gives Neji a run for his money when they spar.

This didn't go unnoticed by her father, Hiashi. While he was very pleased to see her begin to succeed, he was wondering where her inspiration came from. He asked her after a training spar one day where she got her fire from, and she gave him a simple answer.

"It was Naruto, father. He helped me find my confidence, my self-worth! I've never felt so good, so free! It's like, when he's around, I feel complete." She confided in the Hyuuga patriarche.

This gave Hiashi much to think about. He knew that the boy wasn't very well thought of at all, but he made his little girl happy, the one thing he couldn't do since his beloved wife died. In fact, what she discribed was what his own beloved Hana told him on the day he asked her to marry him. This melted the ice that once imprisoned the Hyuuga leader's heart.

"My daughter, I know that I have been rather, unpleasant to deal with since your mother died. I know that you loved her more than anything and her loss hurt us both so badly. If you wish to date the Uzumaki boy, I shall allow it. Please, accept my blessing as an apology for my deplorable behaivor." He told his eldest daughter sadly.

Hinata hugged her father tightly and kissed his cheek, something hadn't done in years. "Thank you so much, Otou-sama!" She told him brightly as she bounded from his study.

_**FLASHBACK END**_

For now, life was good. He had a new big sister who was also a kunoichi, he now had an official girlfriend, and his new sensei was a very good man. Yeah, it was definately good to be Naruto Uzumaki at that moment.

_A/N: The chapters have now hit the double digits! I worked on this from scratch for the past 24 hours almost consecutively! All I can say is thank god for coffee! I hope that you all enjoy this!_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Hey there, #11 is up and running. This chapter will be quite a bit longer due to the explainations contained herein. I hope that this makes sense to you, but in the off chance that it doesn't, feel free to PM me and comment and I'll try to explain it. Enough from me, please enjoy.**_

_**HARUNO RESEIDENCE 1300 HRS**_

A gastronomically content Ichigo strolled on up to the Haruno residence, which a floor below their import/export shop. He stopped and looked at the entrance, making sure that he got the right address this time. A few blocks over, he thought that he had arrived and walked straight into a really old woman who thought that he was her grandson. Not really wanting to hurt her feelings, he stayed for an hour talking with the elderly lady and sipping some REALLY bitter tea and dodging questions. Once he was done, he made a beark for it and wound up at the shop, walking through the door.

The sound of the door bells alerted Takeo Haruno to a new customer in his store, so he nearly pelted on over to get a look. "Hello there! See anything you like?" He greeted in a friendly tone.

"Oh, ah, I'm here to see the parents of Miss Sakura Haruno." The tall Jounin replied.

"I'm her father, Takeo. Is she needed by anyone or late for a team meeting, perchance?"

"Oh,no. Nothing of that sort, sir. You see, her team's previous sensei was...let go, and I was assigned to take over. Hokage-sama recommended that I come and have a sort for parent-teacher meeting with you, so here I am. The name is Ichigo, Ichigo Suzumiya." He informed the much shorter man cheerfully.

"Well, you certainly are a lot friendlier than her last sensei, not mention taller, too." He remarked at the sheer height the younger man had on him.

"By the way, why has Kakashi been replaced, if you are at liberty to say?"

"Hokage-sama has given me no orders to the contrary, so I'll elaborate."

Takeo took that as a cue to put up the closed sign to prevent antone from barging in off of the streets. As he told the story of what happened on the mission, Sakura heard people talking down in her father's shop. She looked in and saw that it was her new sensei, so her curiosity drove her to listen in. As she listened, she overheard her father say things like "Yondaime's Legacy", "Foolish Hatake", and "Ignorant Villagers", shaking his head sadly.

"So, Kakashi proved that he was no different than the rest of the petty villagers...such a shame. Naruto's such a nice boy. You know, my wife Sanae and I wanted to adopt him the night of the attack, but the council and the Uchiha blocked us from doing so. Almost the entire Shinobi clan council tried their hand, just to fail as we did. He was thrown into the orphanage as soon as he could walk, and practically forgotten. If the Yondaime were to see what happened to him, he would be ashamed of this village." Takeo replied sadly.

"I agree with you. I started out as his next door neighbor and he saw me training one day. I asked him if he wanted to join me and he looked ask if I gave him the world on a platter. I'll never forget the look of pleading in his eyes. That is something no child should have, especially one so young."

Inner Sakura was puzzled by what they were saying. _**'What would Naruto have to do with the Yondaime? My parents tried to adopt him when he was little, but the council and the UCHIHA outlawed it?! Naruto-kun could have been my little brother! Those BASTARDS!!!'**_ She screamed from where she was in her hosts sub-conscious.

The fan-girl, for once, had no snide or scalding remarks to offer about the boy in question. She was afraid of Ichigo and Naruto, yes, but she was even more frightened of I.S. as of late. The influence of that fan girl portion of her personality has been steadily growing weaker since they returned from the battle at the bridge on the Wave mission, as it has become less and less warranted. I.S was growing stronger and it wouldn't be long until F.G. (Fan Girl) was either fully suppressed or gone all together. She decided to listen for a little while longer and hear her new sensei's impression of her.

Sanae had heard the talking as well and came out from the stores backroom to see who their visitor was. Ichigo introduced himself as Sakura's new Jounin Sensei, to which she returned the greeting.

"Hello, Ichigo-san. I am Sanae Haruno, Sakura's mother. I understand that you became her team's sensei only today, is that correct?"

"Hai. That it is, Haruno-san." He confirmed politely.

Sanae chuckled at his formality. "Just call me Sanae, Ichigo-kun. You really are much nicer and more polite than her last sensei. He came here with Hokage-sama to get a feel for how she lived, but he didn't seem very interested and even had the nerve to read that smut book in my house. He was mumbling something about the Uchiha being the only one he was interested in." She trailed off until she got back on track.

"If you will come with me, I will show you to her room." She told him kindly.

He was led up the stairs, into the house portion of the store and up another flight of stairs to Sakura's loft. When he opened the door, he was nearly blindsided by all of the pink in the room, not to mention all of the candid shots of the Emo Prince that she was so fixated on.

_'Whoa...This is almost like a house of horrors. Her fixation on the Uchiha brat is going to get her killed one day.'_ He inwardly commented as he continued his minor inspection.

Sanae noticed that he rolled his eyes at all of the Sasuke pictures in the room and understood why he did so. "I wish that she would drop that obsession with that ghastly Uchiha boy. He and his clan, minus his mother, god rest her soul, have given us nothing but grief and hardships."

"Really? I not to too fond of the kid either, but if I may ask, what happened?"

"It's an honest enough question. A few years ago, one year after the Uchiha massacre, Sasuke Uchiha came into our store. He was already becoming spoiled beyond imagining. Almost all the other merchants and shop owners gave him insane discounts, but Takeo and I do not believe that he had earned them. When he came, he demanded the same treatment, but my husband told him otherwise. The boy went to the council and filed a grievance against us, to which followed many black-listing our small business within the village. If it weren't for the others on the shinobi council and for Naruto, our family would have been out on the streets."

"Really? How does Naruto factor into all of this?"

"He came to our store a year before that, trying to buy a bed. He told us that all of the other stores chased him out or would sell him junk at outrageously high prices. When we asked why he didn't have one, he told us that some people broke into his room and destroyed most of his belongings and took most of his money that he had saved. What he had in his hands was all he had left." Sanae told him before she had to stop for a moment to dry her eyes before she could continue.

"When Takeo and I saw that, it took all the resolve we had not to break into tears on the spot. We told him we could give him the bed for free, but he insisted on paying for it. Takeo and I arranged for him to help out in the store part-time to earn it, which he agreeed to wholeheartedly. He was such a sweetheart and a hard, diligent worker. We were amazed by the drive the boy had, as well as a knack for quick-thinking. After a year had passed, his birthday came around again. He recieved the worst beating he had ever endured in his life that night. When I went to visit him, he pleaded with me to leave and not to be seen with him, or they would do the same to me and my family. After that, he simply vanished. When the Uchiha boy did what he did, the shinobi clans helped us because we helped Naruto. The only things we heard of him were the same vile and nasty rumors that always surrounded the poor boy. Now, he re-surfaces on my daughter's team, but we still can't seem to find him anywhere."

Ichigo took in all of what the woman had told him at face value. She had no reason to lie to him and was genuinely concerned for Naruto. "I'll see if I can bring him by to at least say hello." He assured her.

"Please do. Oh! Would you like to stay for dinner? It's no trouble, I assure you." She invited. He seemed like a nice young man, the kind she would rest easier having her daughter study under.

Ichigo checked a watch he had on his wrist. "As tempting as it is, I must decline. I have prior arrangements..._Like my first date._" He replied, letting the last part slip out on accident.

The woman eyes sparkled with mirth. "Oh my! Your FIRST date?! Surely, such a handsome young man like yourself would have plenty of young ladies willing to spend a night on the town with you."

"Ah, heh heh. It isn't my first EVER, just...in a long time. I had another, but she's..." He went silent.

"I guess that's a sore subject. She's no longer with us, I take it?" She asked gently, to which he nodded somberly. She took the grown man into her arms in a motherly embrace.

"It's good that you're trying again. You're a strong young man, Ichigo-kun, and I know you'll be a wonderful sensei."

"Thanks. I'd better get going, now. Yamanaka-san said he had something to talk with me about. By the way, did you know that Naruto had the biggest crush on your daughter?" He told her.

Sanaesighed deeply and nodded. "Yes, we knew about and tried to get her to at least be civil to him, but she's been stubborn on that front."

"I thought as much. Well, it seems as thought he has a new crush now, one that's interested in him for a change. You know of Hinata Hyuuga?"

Sanae gasped. "The Hyuuga heiress?! She likes Naruto-chan?! How good for him!" The woman beamed in delight.

Ichigo was puzzled that she wasn't sad for her daughter's loss and it wasn't lost on the older woman, either. "Sakura has had years to notice that boy, but she couldn't see past the Uchiha and her obsessive ways. That poor boy deserves to move on for her and I'm glad that Lady Hinata has taken such a shine to him. She is a very kind hearted girl and she will be good for him and help him in ways that no one else could." She reasoned.

Ichigo took what she said at face vaule and told her that he really needed to get going. With goodbyes said, he vanished from their front stoop in a small cyclone of water.

"He seems like such a pleasant young man, very polite, too." Takeo commented.

"Yes, he does. I do hope that he bring Naruto-kun around soon. I want to see how he's grown over the past few years. I'm so glad that he found a little sweetheart. I guess our little girl missed out on a great opportunity." Sanae added. The pair just went back into the store to close up for the day properly.

Sakura quietly slipped out of the shop before her parents locked up. She really needed to talk to someone about what was going on, but Ino was the only one that came to mind. With that in mind, she left to the Yamanaka flower shop.

_**YAMANAKA FLOWER SHOP 1413 HRS**_

"Ino, do you have a few minutes?" Sakura asked her once best friend.

Ino was surprized. She thought that Sakura would have called her Ino-pig. She knew that something had to be wrong. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

Sakura proceeded to tell Ino everything that was bothering her. About the Wave mission, about her fears and doubts, and what she learned about Naruto and her new sensei.

"That's pretty messed up. He couldn't have done anything wrong, he was only a baby. What the hell is wrong with the council and the Uchiha and what did they have against Naruto?!" Ino exclaimed.

"I don't know, but it might have something to do with what happened to Naruto on our mission." Sakura replied.

"Really? Like what?"

"Well, the night before that Zabuza person attacked the bridge, he was sleeping on the roof, like he did every night we were there, because he didn't trust Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke. We felt something powerful and oppressive coming from the roof and we went to check on it. When we got up there, he was thrashing around, screaming like he was in pain while a red aura surrounded him, like he was trapped in a nightmare. He finally stopped thrashing and screaming, just to sob openly, moaning out for someone to stop hurting him and that he wasn't a monster, that he didn't hurt anybody." Sakura had to stop for a moment to catch her breath and swallow some tears that were brewing. It was a very difficult thing to watch, someone suffering like that and there was nothing she could do to help.

"Kakashi-sensei was acting weird and overly harsh where Naruto was concerned since we became a team, but when that red chakra came out, he was frightened and ready to attack him, mabye kill him."

"What?! What kind of sensei does that to a student?!"

"This one, apparently. Anyway, what happened next was strange but kind of beautiful, too. Suddenly, this ghost or something appeared next to him and pulled his head into her lap, and sang to him like he was her child. Her song was so beautiful and it calmed him down. But the strange thing about her was that she had ears like a fox and nine tails, but she was gorgeous. She called him her kit and kissed him on his forehead before she disappeared. She also mentioned that the village caused his nightmares somehow. Kakashi-sensei seemed more angry than scared after it was all over. I asked him about what happened and he said that Naruto was the only one who could tell me, but he doubted that he'd tell anyone willingly. The next day on the bridge, I felt the same thing again and it I knew that it was coming from Naruto."

"Wait. You said nine tails, right?" Ino asked suddenly.

"Yeah, why?"

_'Fox ears and nine tails...Red chakra and people call him a demon...!!!!'_ Ino thought until she came to a conclusion.

_'My dad did mention to mom once about a 'Jinchuuriki' or demon vessel living in the village and that he was my age...Oh my God...It's Naruto!!! He's the demon vessel!!!! But, he's a really sweet guy. A little goofy at times, but still a nice guy. Naruto is Naruto, after all.'_ She concluded.

"What's up, Ino?"

"It's nothing. About Ichigo-sensei, you are very lucky to have him assigned as your sensei." Ino told the pinkette, trying to change the subject.

The new information about ner new sensei got her attention. "Really? How so?"

Ino told her of how Ichigo helped her team by giving them some in depth Taijutsu training and of how he saved her from herself. "You know how I used to diet all the time?"

Sakura nodded, prompting her to continue. "Well, he found that my constant dieting was hurting me, making me weaker and weaker over time. I went to a doctor and she told me that it would have killed me eventually through malnutrition. He talked with me about Sasuke, my reason for dieting, and he asked me what kind of boy I liked. I told him that my type would be kind, funny, smile a lot, and like a girl for who she really is, warts and all."

Sakura hummed dreamily. "That sounds like a great guy to have."

Ino nodded, but wasn't finished. "He nodded his head, but then he asked me something that changed the way I look at people. He asked me which of those qualities Sasuke embodied. I went totally silent, I didn't have a response. He escorted me home and I watched Sasuke for a week. What I saw was a huge dissappointment. He was always rude, snobby and glared at everyone."

Sakura was, to say the least, shocked. Ino was one of Sasuke's most die-hard fan girls. "Really?"

"I'm not joking. He was awful, Sakura. But following the same methods, I looked to the people around me for the same qualities and found them in my teammates, sensei, Ichigo-san, and Naruto-kun."

"Wait, Naruto what?" She asked, slightly incredulous.

"Let me finish. Shikamaru and Chouji aren't perfect, but I could have had far worse for teammates. At least they're considerate of how I feel and listen to me and that counts for a lot. But Naruto-kun and Ichigo-sensei, they meet those standards and much more."

Sakura went quiet. Ino was Miss Popularity back at the Academy, a girl who had her pick of the best, but she saw Naruto of all people, as the most worthy of her affections.

"I saw Naruto-kun come over to my house one day, and I asked my dad what he wanted. He told me that he was there for a scheduled counceling session. Dad told me that he's been going to him for counceling for years, but when I asked him what could have happened, he said that only Naruto or the Hokage could tell me without severe punishment. I've been meaning to ask him, but I could never find him. Then, I heard that your team left on that mission out of the village, but you guys are back now...Hey! Do you know where he is?" Ino asked.

Sakura thought for a minute. "Well, Naruto, Haku, and Ichigo-sensei all went for ramen at Ichiraku's after the debriefing, but after that, I don't know. I don't even know where he lives." She admitted shamefully.

Ino sighed. _'I wanted to talk to him and apologize, too. Oh well, he's back now. I'll run into him sooner or later.'_

"Oh well. You doing anything later today?" She asked, changing the subject again. The two ended up talking for awhile as Ino made her rounds down in the shop when Ichigo walked in the front door.

"Inoichi? You here?" He called out.

From behind the counter, Akari called back. "Ichigo-kun, over here! I have the perfect flowers for your date with Anko-chan!" The blonde woman told him as she thrust a bouquet of daisies into his hands.

"Wait, you're not going dressed like THAT, are you?" She inquired about his current state of dress which was his Jounin uniform.

"Nu-no! Lord no!"

"Then what will you wear?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow, pressing for answers.

"Uh...Ummm...Damn." He dropping his head in defeat.

Akari's motherly instincts were blaring like fire alarms. "I'll just have to take you shopping for clothes. When is the date?"

"At 6 tonight at Dagashiya's." He told her defeatedly.

"Okay. I trust you've drawn your mission and bounty pay." She told him as she called her daughter.

"Ino dear! Come on, we're going to give Ichigo-kun a new look!" The elder blonde woman nearly squealed in delight. It was like having an older son or nephew to dress up.

"Oooohhh! Can Sakura come, too?!"

"Sure! The more the merrier, so let's go!" She hollared as She began to haul the hapless young man out the door. Sakura stood there, unmoving.

"Aren't you coming, dear?" Akari asked the pink-haired girl in concern.

"I'll think I'll pass, Akari-san. I'd better get home." She replied weakly, walking out the door.

"Okay, then. I'll see you around, then." Ino called to her friend turned rival turned friend again.

Inoichi watched on in pity. Not one but two, women using him as a human dress up doll. Nope, not for him this time. Just his wife and daughter were enough, thank you.

On her way home, Inner Sakura lost control and had to retreat back to where she usually waited. As Sakura's normal facade took over again, she felt a sharp stab in her heart and felt tears coming down her cheek not knowing what she was doing near Ino's house or why she felt so sad.

Inside, I.S was busy crying her eyes out. _**"You...YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!"**_ She screamed at her host in rage and despair.

_"What's your problem?" _ F.G asked her other persona.

_**"Shut up you stupid bitch!!!! Naruto-kun is taken now!!! We had all the time in the world to make him happy in return for all he tried to do for us!! We could have had someone who cared for us, but just HAD to follow that emo asshole around like a bitch in heat!!!! You ruined everything!! If we weren't a part of the same person, I'd kill you!!!"**_

___"So what? He's only the dobe, no one to get worked up about."_

I.S snarled in rage.She decided__to show her other half what she learned about Naruto and Sasuke in the past two hours. What happened was highly unexpected. I.S expected her other half to shrug it off, but instead she was shell-shocked.

_"After all of that...he still liked us. But now...He's with Hinata and...he's happy."_ She breathed out, not even moving. _"Sasuke-kun...is a horrible person...nearly put my family on the street. Naruto tried to help us...but I was so nasty to him."_ She choked out, sinking to her knees in her mind and on the outside.

"I'm such a cruel bitch." Sakura whispered as she began to weep into her hands for the loss of what could have been hers.

_**"Now you listen ME..."**_ I.S growled as she picked up F.G by the collar of her shirt. _**"We are going to apologise to Naruto-kun and be his friend if nothing else. You will NOT screw this up and I will NOT let you hurt him anymore. If you do, so help me God, I'll kill you. I don't care if I'll die too. Now, we will go home and think of a way to apologise to him and throw away all of those pictures of that bastard Sasuke."**_

Sakura stood up and walked back to her house, still sniffling the entire way there.

_**KONOHA MERCHANT DISTRICT 1525 HRS**_

Akari and Ino had taken Ichigo to the same store that she had Inoichi get his more formal/casual wear from. Once inside, she almost instantly began to pick out clothes and directed him to a dressing room, having him try on different combinations and pairs while the Ino acted like a judges panel.

Their attention was drawn to the entrance when they heard a familiar voice. "Aw, Haku-nee...Do I have to dress up?"

A soft voice cut in next. "Yes, otouto-kun, you do. Come on, I'll help you pick something out."

Ino looked around a clothing rack and saw aruto, with a beautiful girl she'd never seen before chiding him.

"Hey, Naruto." She called to him. _'Damn! Is she his girlfriend?' _She wondered. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh! This is Haku-neechan!" He told her cheerfully, as he explained how she came back with them and how she wound up being a big sister to him. Ino breathed a sigh of relief.

_'Okay, she's his onee-chan, not his girlfriend. But what are they doing here?'_ She wondered as Sakura came around, as well as her mom.

"Naruto-chan! How good to see you!" She told him as she wrapped him up in a big hug. "What are you up to, young man?" She asked him.

Ino never knew that her mom knew Naruto so well, but figured that since he was seeing her dad for therapy, her mom would try to mother him as well.

"Well, Akari-san, I kinda...um...gotta date tonight." He told her sheepishly, to which she let out a girlish squeal and he heard Ichigo from behind the dressing room curtain.

"Really?! Hinata agreed to a date without fainting?! Miracles DO happen!"

"Actually, she asked ME out and her dad approved! Pretty crazy, huh?" He replied jovially.

His declaration got a mixed reaction from the two females. Ino was feeling somewhat jealous, she had wanted to take a shot at Naruto after apologizing to him. Akari was thrilled that the lonely boy finally found a girl who was interested in him and not the Uchiha.

"Hinata Hyuuga?! Wow! She's a real cutie pie and very sweet girl! Good for you Naru-chan!" Akari gushed while squeezing the young blonde jinchuuriki. _'If Hiashi Hyuuga of all people approved of him, that should tell people that he is a good boy. Good for him.'_

Ino swallowed her jealousy due to the fact that Naruto deserved somebody who liked him from the start. "Congradulations, Naruto. I hope that you two will be happy together." She told him honestly, pulling him into a hug.

"I-Ino? Thanks, but I thought you couldn't stand me? What's up?" He quetsioned her, slightly on the defensive. Akari sighed, but couldn't blame Naruto for erring on the side of caution given all the thing people did to him in the past.

Ino went on to explain all the soul searching she had been doing for the past couple of months, along with the discoveries and changes she'd made. "I've come to the conclusion that I didn't like who I'd become. I thought that I'd start by apologizing to you and...seeing where things went from there." She told him, fidgeting bashfully while explaining the last part.

_'Not to mention I know that you have a demon that nearly totaled the village sealed inside of you, but I don't care.'_ She added mentally.

Saki was listening on the story with a knowing grin on her face. _**'This girl has some feelings for the boy, too. She's not even trying that hard to hide them.'**_

_** "Naru-chan, I can tell that she's being completly honest with you."**_ She informed her vessel.

_"Thanks, Saki-chan. It's just a little weird, y'know? For the longest time, she hated me and now she comes up to me and apologizes out of nowhere. To top that off, she's acting a little Hinata used to around me...Wait a minute...She LIKES me?! I thought that she liked the Teme?!" _ He exclaimed in surprize.

_**"From what she said, she woke up and saw that brat for what he REALLY is, a self-centered, spoiled little punk. She looked around and apparently found what she liked in you. Your luck is really changing, finding out two cute girls like you in the same day."**_ She teased him with a giggle.

Naruto didn't find it so funny, however. _"What'll I do?! I'm dating Hina-chan, but Ino-chan likes me, too!"_ He thought in a panic.

Saki thought for a minute. _**"Maybe Hina-chan would share you with her? What ever you tell her, be gentle. Don't break her heart."**_ The vixen told him as her presense faded.

He faced the blonde girl with a small, but gentle smile. "Thanks, Ino-chan. I feels good to hear you say that. I'd be more than happy to be your friend." He responded to her hugging her back. Akari reminded them of the time and got them back on track.

The group decided to pool their opinions of the to blonde males they dressed up and got some very pleasing results. Both blondes cleaned up very nicely and were a little envious of the girls they had dates with that night. Both of them sported khaki slacks with white button up shirts and matching sport coats.

Haku had to admit that her new foster parent looked pretty good all dressed up and cleaned up and Naruto would be a real charmer once grown. Akari even managed to get Naruto's normally unruly hair to behave with some pomade in liberal amounts. She asked the boy to drop by the shop on his way to pick up Hinata so that she could give him a corsage made of the flower of his choice. He chose the Lavender flower, to match her eyes.

With the clothes paid for and everything done, they went their seperate ways. Naruto, Ichigo, and Haku of course walked off together back to the apartments. Haku was telling them how Mrs. Yamanaka offered her a part-time should she want it.

Ichigo and Naruto both split up and began to get ready for their dates. You know, shower and in Ichigo's case, shave, the whole de-funking process that preceeds a date. Haku took to fussing over the two of them and doing a final check before they left for the evening. The older girl felt that Naruto might need a little support, considering what she knew of the village from Naruto's and Ichigo's accounts, so she began to follow him around and stop trouble before it started.

_**WITH ANKO AND HINATA AROUND THE SAME TIME**_

For now, let's look in on Anko and Hinata, shall we? After all they need to get ready, too. Anko never had a sense for the normal type of date and Hinata had no other older female figure in her life, so Kurenai filled in that gap. She took the two to one of her favorite stores and got them fitted with a pair of dresses that actually suited them. Anko was given a honey-brown evening gown that perfectly matched her eyes. It had a slit that ran up to her mid thigh and a slightly conservative neckline, but still showed a generous portion of her ample chest. Hinata had a similarly styled cheongsam dress with a slightly more daring neckline and both dresses hugged all the curves that made men into putty.

Kurenai stepped back and admired her handiwork. She insisted that they wear them on the way home to get a public opinion like a sort of social experiment. The results were very entertaining. At least a couple dozen men of varying ages, shinobi and civilian, ran into stationary objects, smacked themselves with various construction tools on accident, and/or choked on what they were drinking or eating. Asuma nearly choked on his cigarette, Gai was actually silent for once, and Shino actually blushed. One of the funniest reactions was from Ibiki, Anko's boss and T & I. His slack-jawed expression was priceless and he walked right into a wall face first.

The low point was when a few guys got a little fresh, but they quickly realized that they were messing with two of the most dangerous kunoichi in the entire village. Kiba saw Hinata and tried to lay down some moves on her, only for her to activated her Byakugan and with lightning speed, she shut down the tenketsu in his jaw and vocal chords and halted all speech for the next 2 hours, sending him cowering away.

As soon as Hinata arrived at Hyuuga manor, the guards were all slack-jawed, as this was something they had never seen from the clan heiress. Neji and her father were sparring in the courtyard when she went past it to her room when he saw her first. He froze in place causing Hiashi to hit him square in the forehead, knocking to the ground. When he began to chide him on letting his guard down, he noticed that he stared off in the same direction as before. He followed hi nephew's line of sight as saw what he saw.

"Oh my..." He said in a stunned tone.

Hanabi noticed this and went over to her two stricken male relatives, and smacked them in the head. "Hey! Get a grip, guys! It only Hinata-onechan!" She yelled at the before stomping off.

"Men..." The knee-high Hyuuga girl muttered.

_**HYUUGA MANOR 1745 HRS.**_

Naruto was waiting patiently and nerviously inside of Hiashi's study, awaiting the arrival of Hinata. He was told by Ichigo and Akari that being slightly early would make a good impression, so he arrived twenty minutes early. The Hyuuga gate guards let him in, informed him that Lord Hiashi wanted to speak with him in his study, and brought him there.

Once there, Hiashi went into the standard fatherly pre-date diatribe, telling him to treat his little girl right, make her happy, keep her safe and above all, BEHAVE and HANDS OFF. He had his Byakugan active through the entire one sided conversation to further reinforce his point, which had what appeared to be a positive effect and made Naruto go pale when he thought about what Hiashi would to him should he screw this up. Hiashi was reveling in his role of the protective father, finding it quite fun to terrorize his daughter's date. He almost couldn't wait for Hanabi to start dating so he could do it again. Almost.

After a few more awkward minutes of waiting, Hinata was finally brought out from getting ready by Neji and Hanabi. One look at her and she reduced one of the loudest genin in the village to mute shock.

"Wow..." Was all he could say, other than, "Here...present for you..." He told her in the same stunned tone as he handed her the small box he had. She opened it up to reveal a corsage made of Lavender and Lilacs.

Her sister and cousin both smirked at his reaction, as they knew of her crush on him. After all, how could they not? Ever since Hiashi gave her the go ahead to date him, she hadn't shut up about it. Hanabi had never seen anything as scary as her sister when it came to her beau.

She had once seen a picture of him in her sister's room and made a passing comment that he looked kind of dopey, but still cute enough for her. Hanabi didn't know which comment set off her sister's wrath, but she promptly fled the area under a massive killing intent. She wouldn't spar with or even go near Hinata for a week after that.

Neji had a "Naruto Mania" encounter himself just the other week. He blurted out in the middle of a spar that Naruto was the dobe of his class and Hinata kicked his ass six ways from Sunday. Even the clan council was a little afraid of the young girl after the savage beatdown she gave their "prodigy".

Hiashi actually allowed a slight grin as he saw what Naruto had chosen to give his daughter. It reminded him of what he gave his wife when they dated when they were young and made him nostalgic for a moment.

"Now, Uzumaki-san. About my little girl, have her home at a decent hour and make sure to show her the proper respect, _**OR ELSE.**_" He told Naruto sternly, getting in his face. He then backed up to his normal distance.

"Other than that, please show her a good time." He said in a slightly cheerful manner. With his blessing, he sent the pair on their way.

_**ANKO'S APARTMENT 1715 HRS**_

Ichigo walked up to her door early and knocked. Kurenai answered the door and let him in, telling him that Anko was almost ready and to have a seat on the couch. He did as he was told and did so while Kurenai gave him a cup of tea to pass the time. During the wait, he talked with her about Hinata and how she now had a tangible spine.

Kurenai was just as surprized and thrilled that her student now had a boyfriend, a very loyal one at that. She was also happy for her friend, who was actually very lonely and had been for a long time. She knew that Anko was secretly a little envious of her and Asuma, but knew her well enough to know that she'd never admit it.

After a few moments went by Anko walked out of her room and into the common area, getting her date's attention. When he turned around and took in how she looked, his jaw hit floor. To him, she looked absolutely gorgeous in the ensemble and light make up that Kurenai whipped up for her.

Anko was loving the reaction her gown was getting, making this whole thing worth the effort so far. Her date was reduced to a shy little kid, blushing up a storm and hold a bouquet of Daisies out to her in a strange but cute half bow.

"Oh! For me?" She cooed sweetly, taking the flowers and taking a whiff, enjoying the smell greatly.

"Mmmmm...They smell wonderful and they're so pretty. Thank you." She told him in a slightly sexy manner as she sauntered over to him and kissed him on his cheek. She could have sworn that she heard the fuses blowing in his head, but chuckled at his atomic red face as she dragged him out the door, bound for the restaurant.

"Don't wait up now." She joked with her long time best friend with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Behave yourself, young lady!" Kurenai mock scolded while laughing. When this was all over, she'd want all of the details.

"Okay, MOM!" The Snake Kunoichi remarked back as she disappeared around the corner.

Kurenai was left to wonder when Asuma would actaully work up the nerve to ask her on a date himself. The crimson-eyed kunoichi was beginning to get a little frustrated with the man and the lack of advancement in their relationship. She could only hope that he would take a cue from Ichigo and get a clue.

_**DAGASHIYA'S 1730 HRS.**_

Ichigo and Anko had already made it to the restaurant with plenty of time to spare and got their seats. It was a bit of a rough start since he was reminded that most of the village didn't really think too fondly of his date because at first they wouldn't let her in. He asked her once why that was, but she told him it was a sore subject. However, Ichigo proved like on the day that they first met that he could very...persuasive.

"The lady is with me, sir. Please guide us to a seat." He told the man in a neutral tone, but with a sharply concentraited killing intent that nearly made him lose control of his bodily functions.

The snobbish maitre'd immeadiately let them pass and guided them to one of the best tables in the house, constantly sputtering apologies to Anko the whole way.

_'Wow! I could get used to this! I never thought that I'd ever go on a nice date like this. I like him, I really do. I feel safe around him, he's funny, nice, has an insane alcohol tolerance but is actually a responsible drinker, and he's just as protective of Naruto as I am, not to mention he looks like an older version of him. I...might be able to tell him about Orochimaru. Maybe...'_ She thought as Ichigo pulled out her chair for her.

She had always wanted to be treated like a lady, but all of the dates she tried so far treated her as if she was cheap and an easy lay. She had almost abandoned hope until Ichigo came along. He was a fun guy, but he was also had a sense of chivalry, which she secretly enjoyed but would never admit it while sober. He allowed her to let her guard down around him and never treated her like a piece of meat.

_'I guess she's really enjoying this. I glad I decided to ask her out. I mean, she's funny, smart, caring, strong, skilled...I could go on. I really like her, but I need to be careful about telling her about what I really am. If she accepts Naruto, she might do the same for me, but I just don't know for sure, not yet. I'll tell her someday if keep this up.'_ He thought to himself as they ordered their food and drinks.

They kept up a lively chat, Ichigo telling her about the Wave mission and her telling him a bit more about her past. She felt that she was really flirting with disaster, but also felt that she owed it to him for sticking with her and being a decent guy. She asked him to lean forward as she told him the twisted story of her and Orochimaru.

She poured her heart and soul out to him, leaving nothing out. When she finished, she closed her eyes and waited for him to leave in disgust, only to be shocked that he was still sitting there with a gaze that didn't contain pity or sympathy, but understanding.

"I don't care about any of that. I only see you as you are, Anko Mitarashi. A good Kunoichi and an even better woman with a strong and kind heart. To tell you the truth, I was a little scared that you wouldn't agree to a date with me. ut since you told me your secret, I...want to tell you mine. Now the only two in the whole world who know are Inoichi Yamanaka, who performed a mind dive on me when I first arrived and the Sandaime himself." He told her in a hushed tone as he began to tell her his tale. The full extent of it.

"I started out as a science experiment for a shadowy group that was known as the Illuminati. Myself and one other, out of hundreds of other subject who were also experimented on survived. We were meant to be infused with powerful spirits that you know today as the Bijuu."

"Th-The what?! But how?!" She whispered incredulously.

"Hold on and I'll tell you about it. What you know as the Bijuu were once just docile animal spirits. Even the fearsome Kyuubi was once a very gentle Kitsune spirit and Shukaku was once very kind as well, as were most of the nine Bijuu, until they were all captured. Then, they had summoners, priests and priestesses that worked on making the spirits more powerful, but it drove some of them insane and made the others distrustful of humans."

Anko gasped in shock. She believed that the spirits should be left alone, much unlike her sensei Orochimaru. This all sounded like something he would try and do if he had the means and resources.

"Then, they worked on the vessels for the new demons they created. They took over a hundred children of various ages from around the world and began to...enhance them. The kids were broken down and rebuilt from the ground up, genetically and otherwise. Many of them died during the process. Next, they infused us with some of the chakra from the demons, which only myself and one other the same age as me survived. A girl named Shiina and I were the only two. The after result was that we gained some kind of supernatural powers, such as my ability to control air and water, as well as healing and regenerative abilities. My partner Shiina gained the ability of control fire and limited telepathic and psychokinetic abilities. We both gained sensory abilities, enhanced strengthand endurance, reflexes and speed, along with being programed with various fighting arts. We were created to be the perfect weapons."

"That's horrible..." Anko gasped. That was something, coming from the queen of torture.

"Shiina and I were sent out on missions to test our viability under fire, to which we passed easily. With what they did to us, they essentially created a new species of human. We were still fully able to procreate too, as they wanted to see if they could breed us. Before the implatation of the demons was to take place, three sympathizers to our plight set us free. When we were let go, we also set the demons free, but the Kyuubi stayed with us. She felt that she owed us a debt of honor for setting her free and helping her regain her sanity, so she became our companion and trusted friend. "

Anko could hardly believe her ears, but was compelled to believe him. The Kyuubi, one of the nastiest demons that ever walked the earth, followed around a pair of humans out of graditude and honor.

"We wandered the world for over 5 years, evading their attempts to recapture and eventually destroy us. She helped us by using her Kitsune powers to hide us or help us fight, which sometimes turned into full scale warfare. Our battles once leveled a major city. Over 1 million people died during the course of the fighting, but the Illuminati didn't care. To obtain their goals, they would kill off entire small countries to do so."

"There's no such place that has that many people in it. There can't be..." She told him. This tale was beginning to be impossible.

"I haven't finished yet. When I tell you the final secret, you'll understand. Finally, we were tracked to a small town that ran along the Rhine river in a country called Germany. Shiina had been injured in a battle just the week before so we went there to recover. She didn't have my healing abilities, so the process was slow. We stayed there too long, which resulted in them finding us and launching their attack, but we managed to evacuate most of the townsfolk before they struck. I had Kyuubi take Shiina along with them and I stayed behind to stall them and thin them out. I managed to take down over half of them before I was nearly killed. Kyuubi and Shiina came to my rescue, with Kyuubi using two her tails to shield me and the rest to sweep their forces away."

Anko hand't seen what he was capable of first hand, but if from the report she read about the Wave mission was at least accurate where his battle strength was concerned, that would be entirely possible.

"After the troops were taken care of, Kyu came up and told us something peculiar, that she would protect our young and our line, becoming our families guardian spirit. But right as she declared that, a massive bomb was dropped on us in a final attempt to destroy us. Kyu and I threw up barriers to stave off the bomb's destructing power, but it's energies reacted with mine in a really weird way, and pulled me into a strange vortex."

"The story was really interesting and all, but you said that you had a final secret."

"Yes. The secret is that this all happened over 700 years ago. The vortex that swallowed me up spit me out right on top of Hokage Tower a week before I met you."

This left Anko speechless. Time travel?! From the past?! "Wait, wait. You mentioned that you had a line left behind."

Ichigo's face took on a saddened visage. "Yes. Shiina and I...were lovers. I was told by Sarutobi that I had a living decsendant here in the village by having some blood work done on a hunch. I'll give you one guess as to who that is." He told her.

Anko thought hard, taking a good long look at his face and hair, trying to place it. Suddenly it hit her like a bolt of lightning. "No way...Naruto?" She breathed.

He nodded his head approvingly. "Very good. I knew you'd figure it out. He's my final living decsendant and I'll be damned if anything happens to him on my watch." He said with conviction.

_'It all makes sense now...They look almost exactly alike and it explains his protectiveness over the kid. He also lost his lover, how sad...'_ She thought before leaning forward to grab his hands.

"I'm...I'm sorry for doubting your story. I thought that you were crazy or something. Also, I'm...sorry about Shiina. You must have loved her very much."

"Don't worry about it. If it hadn't happened to me, I'd have a hard time believeing it, too." He told her with a chuckle, but that soon turned sad.

"About Shiina...I still love her, but she's dead, been dead for at least 700 years, but for me it's been only a few months. If it helps, you remind me of her in a lot of ways and I know that she wouldn't want me to mope around forever. She'd probably kick the shit out of me if it did. She was the firey type, with long fire red hair and almost glowing green eyes and an attitude for the ages..." He began to tell her about his long lost love as she sat there eagerly listening about this intriguing and mysterious woman.

As Ichigo wound down his tale, they heard a commotion coming from the entrance of the restaurant and went over to investigate. When they got there, they saw a dressed up Naruto and gussied up Hinata trying to get a seat inside but were being barred from entering by the same matire'd that accosted Anko.

"What the hell is going on here?" The tall blonde demanded.

The snobbish man turned, saw Ichigo, and snorted. "Hmph. I allowed _that_ woman in here but I refuse to allow the demon boy to taint our establishment." He huffed.

"You snide little bastard..." Anko snarled and was about to clock him, but she was stopped by Ichigo.

"Fine then. I'll just tell everyone that this place has rotten service, anyway. Let's go, Anko-chan, Naruto, Hina-chan. Just know that you turned away a Main House Hyuuga, the heiress at that, and they don't really like that." He told the man, making him ghostly pale.

He began to sputter apologies, begging and groveling to get them to come inside. "Nah. We ordered over 30 minutes ago and we never even got our drinks. There's no excuse for that because you aren't even that busy." Anko said while gestureing to the half empty restaurant.

She turned on her heel, grabbed Ichigo's arm and marched off to the Akimichi's restaurant. "Hey gaki, you bringin' your date along, our what?" She called out in a playful tone that Naruto recognised, making him smile.

"Come on, Hinata-chan! Let's go with them!"

Hinata glared at the still begging man and took her date's arm. "Let's go, Naru-kun. Anywhere is better than _this_ place." She remarked as they trailed behind the older pair arm in arm.

_**SHUSHUYA'S 1849 HRS**_

After they left Dagashiya's, they went to a restaurant that was owned by the Akimichi clan, who's clan head happened to be there that night and accepted them with open arms. Chouza remarked that both of the girls were very beautiful, nearly getting swatted by his wife. He never knew that their torture princess could clean up so nicely and that the Hyuuga heiress was so beautiful. He also commented that the two blondes were very, very lucky.

They were seated with Chouza and his family at his insistance, where they pretty much got a free meal. Ichigo and Naruto both reached for their wallets to pay their tabs, but the Akimichi patriarche picked up the tab as a thank you for giving his son some confidance in himself.

Chouji was talking animatedly with Naruto and Hinata, who he hadn't seen since graduation over 4 months ago. They were catching up with had been happening in their lives, starting out with Chouji telling them about Ichigo's lessons in self-confidance.

He had Chouji parade around in mawashi for a full hour while shouting out, "Chubbies rock!" , "Hail to the Fluffy!", "Slim Fast Sucks!", "Big boned=Big luvin'!" and various other positive messages about larger people. He had him repeat this process until he began to believe in himself more and on top of that, he was taught some advanced grappling that would put his bulk to good use.

After a good laugh, Chouji asked them how they came to be together, being on a date and all. Hinata told him how her sensei and her friend Anko took her under their wing and bolstered her sense of self worth and confidance. The pale-eyed girl also told of how her father came to approve of Naruto and how he is beginning to lighten up and of how he put the screws to Naruto as a pre-date chat. Chouji congradulated the two of them and wished them luck in their relationship.

_**MOVIE THEATRE 2049 HRS**_

After 2 hours of stories and friendly banter, the two couples decided it was time to move on to the next phase of the date, a movie. Unsurprizingly, Anko wouldn't be caught dead at a chick flick but a slasher flick wasn't on the pallet for the night for the group, either. They instead opted for an action movie with the popular actress (To everyone else but Ichigo anyway), Yukie Fujikaze.

Halfway into the movie, Naruto was tuckered out and fell asleep on Hinata's shoulder. He had just gotten back from a mission earlier that morning so she couldn't really blame him. The Hyuuga girl just giggled lightly and slid his head down to her lap as she played with his hair, all but ignoring the movie at that point.

Ichigo shook his head. _'Wasn't that supposed to be the other way around?'_ He wondered until he felt something on his own shoulder. He looked over and found Anko nestled against him, groaning contently with a slight bit of drool. He smiled while carefully putting his arm around her and finished the movie.

As soon as the credits began to roll, he shook her gently to wake her up. "Anko-chan, movie's over." He told her softly.

"Mmnn...uh...wha?" She mumbled as she woke up and saw Ichigo smiling down at her.

"Oh, Icchan...Time to go?" She asked sleepily with a matching grin.

_'Icchan? Heh. If the shoe fits...'_ He thought as he helped her to her feet. "Yeah. Let's go home now." He informed her of the final leg of the date.

Naruto was awakened gently by Hinata shaking him. "Naru-kun...It's time to go. Ichigo-sensei said we're going to go home." She told her date in the soft tone that she was so well liked for.

Naruto nodded and the group went along on their way home.

_**KONOHA STREETS 2114 HRS**_

Haku had a rather boring night trailing Naruto. No one even came near him due to the fact that Ichigo and Anko were with them. She was about to leave when they split up to take their dates home. Aparrently, she wasn't the only one to notice this, as she spotted someone tailing Naruto and Hinata a dozen yards behind them.

Her soft brown eyes hardened behing her mask as she swiftly and stealthly made her way over to her new otouto's stalker. The stalker was obviously a shinobi by the way they moved and tried to conceal their chakra, but it was a bit amatureish, leading her to believe that it was a lower class ninja. The closer she got she could hear the person muttering something angrily, revealing the person to be male.

Finally the person got himself into an ambush position behind a wall and was waiting for them to come into view when she struck out with a few very well placed senbon, dropping the possible assailant like a bad habit. Once Naruto had made it past the site, she dragged him away to I.D him at her leisure. She dragged him into the light and growled at the identity of the near attacker : One Kiba Inuzuka.

She only removed enough of the senbon for him to regain consciousness, but left in the ones which block his movement. Slapping him a few times to bring him around, he shook him roughly. "So, Inuzuka-_san_, and use that loosely..." The ice wielding kunoichi spat out in a low growl.

"What was your purpose in tailing Naruto with the intent to ambush and cause harm? Be honest, or you _really_ won't like me when I'm through." Haku warned him.

Kiba grimaced at being caught. He knew she had to be a kunoichi from when they first, _met_, but he didn't think she was so skilled. "That stupid dobe is running around with what's mine. What's a forgein whore like you care, anyway?" He snarled, bearing his clans trademark fangs.

"What have I told you about treating women like propery?" She retorted in a frosty tone as he felt the temperature drop dramatically. When Kiba refused to answer her, she increased the pressure on him, now encasing Kiba's arm in ice.

The dog boy began to panic when he saw the ice begin to creep up in arm, but he was completely helpless to do anything. His mind raced to find a way out of this jam and came up with one. "Heh. You can't really hurt me. I'm the heir to the Inuzuka clan. You'd get in to a lot of trouble if you hurt me." He told her in a smug tone.

She gave him a cruel smirk which smashed his hastily built up confidence. "Look over on that rooftop across from us. Do you see those two ANBU there? What would have happened if THEY caught you instead of me? They would have killed you for endangering the Hyuuga heiress, regardless of her company."

Kiba's face and skin were almost instantly drained of any and all color. "I see that you've spotted them, too. I will let you go now so that you can cower back to your home, but know this..." She paused, making her killer intent flare violently.

"If you so much as go near them, I'll not only tell your sensei, but also Hinata-chan's father and Naruto's sensei about your little vendetta and your foolishness. They can be far more harsh on you than I can, rest assured of that." She told him with a tone of confidance.

The dog boy was near hysterics. He'd be lucky if his mom only grounded him and his sister Hana only beat him up. He'd heard no end of scary stories about Naruto's new sensei and knew that Hinata's father would think nothing of killing him if he was a threat to his eldest daughter. He decided to cut his losses and admit defeat, for now.

Haku was satisfied with his answer and stayed only long enough to make sure Naruto made it inside the Hyuuga compound safely before she turned to go home. Before she could leave, the ANBU she pointed out appeared in front of her.

"That was some nice work, Miss Momochi. I've been told that you will be taking a placement test in a week's time. If you rank high enough, we would like to extend an invitation to join the ANBU should you choose to. You've got some decent and solid skills, not to mention that neat ice trick of yours."

"Thank you, ANBU-san, but I'd like to stay near my new family for a little while as I get used to life in this village." She told them as she politely refused.

The lead ANBU sighed. "Well, can't argue with that. Offer stands, though, should you reconsider." He told her as they flickered away into the night. Haku shook her head and headed straight back to the apartment she and her new guardian shared, intending on getting a good night's sleep.

_**HYUUGA MANOR 2130 HRS.**_

Naruto was walking with Hinata over to her father's study, as he wanted Naruto to deliver her to him safe and sound personally. Upon entering, Naruto was greeted by not only Hiashi, but Hanabi and Neji, too. He thought that if he screwed up, they would be the witnesses to his ass kicking, maybe the ones who would hold him down.

"So Uzumaki-san, what did you two do on your date?" He asked him in a very strange friendly tone, one he hadn't expected from the man that sent them on their way earlier that evening.

"W-Well, um, we went out to dinner, ran into Ichigo-sensei and Anko-sensei who were out on a date like us and at the same restaurant. After dinner, we went out for a movie then we came straight back here, sir." He answered the man honestly and sincerely.

This drew a pleasant grin from the Hyuuga patriarche as he approved. Neji gave Naruto an approving nod and Hanabi was busy taking in what he looked like all dressed up. Apparently she liked what she saw.

Hinata walked with Naruto out to the gate and gave him a shy first kiss. It was very brief and chaste, but that didn't lessen the feelings that were in it.

"I had a lot of fun tonight. Goodnight, Naruto-kun." She told him as she disappeared into the compound, leaving him standing in mild shock.

He turned to one of the Branch guards that were standing at the gate. "Did...did she...?" He stuttered, gestureing to his face.

The guard, a female Branch member, laughed out loud at his reaction to the kiss. After she calmed down some, she answered him. "Yep, she sure did. Lady Hinata really seems to like you, kiddo. You're extremely lucky, so treat her right, okay?"

"As if I needed to be told how lucky I am?! She's the greatest!" He whooped in glee as he kicked up his heels and practically floated the entire way home.

Her companion shook his head while chuckling. "Kid's got it bad. Sweet youth, huh?"

"You have no idea." She replied.

_**ANKO'S APARTMENT 2135 HRS.**_

The pair strolled up to Anko's apartment, but she stopped just short of opening the door. "So, uh, you wanna come in for a quick drink?" She offered.

"I'd love to, but I need to get going. I've got to make sure Naruto made it home alright and check on Haku." He graciously declined.

_'Oh well. At least I'll give him one hell of a goodnight kiss!'_ She though wickedly.

"Aw, that's a shame. Next time, then." She replied in a sultry tone and she literally made out with him one her doorstep. The impromptu make out session lasted for a full minute and a half before they needed to break for air.

"That...was for the wonderful night. I loved it. It was also to make sure you came back for more." Anko told him in her usual playful tone, but still converyed her honest feelings.

"I'd have come back for another date, anyway. I liked it, too. Goodnight, Anko-chan." He replied to her as he gave her one final kiss on the cheek which made her face glow red momentarily before he disappeared into the night.

She twisted her key in the lock and opened the door to find Kurenai passed out on her couch with a magazine on her face, snoring slightly. She wasn't a Jounin for nothing as she woke up as soon as they walked into the room. She yawned and stretched out while sitting up.

"So, how'd it go, An-chan?" Kurenai asked her long time best friend.

"Lemme get us some drinks first, then I'll tell you about the greatest night of my life." She retorted with a massive grin.

_A/N: 11th chapter locked and loaded! I'll tell you one thing, a lot can happen in one day. Sakura is now changed, Ino likes Naruto now and the date was a huge success with a minor hiccup in the beginning. The whole Kiba obsessive thing is something I've seen happen first hand with friends of mine. Friend of mine dates a girl that another guy was obsessed with and even went as far as stalking them on dates until the police were called in. Scary stuff and scarier people. Also, I hope you guys like what I did with hinata's father and the pre-date shakedown. When I was dating my wife over 10 years ago, her father did the same thing to me, except he pulled out his gun collection to clean them on that very night, putting the fear of him in me, never mind God. Ah, to be young._


	12. Chapter 12

_Sorry about the long wait for the next chapter! My life's just been a bit crazy as of late and I've had more ideas bouncing around in my head for my other stories. In this chapter, we see what happened after the date and the new Team 7's first day together._

_Please leave reviews if you like this enough to add to your favorites or alerts._

_**ANKO'S APARTMENT 2150 HRS.**_

Anko and Kurenai had settled down in her living room with some sake and dango while the purple haired kunoichi began to weave the tale of what happened during the date. She was careful to omit the parts where Ichigo told her the truth of what he REALLY is and what that would mean, but everything else was fair game.

Kurenai listened intently to the details of the night while sipping from her small bottle of sake, her lips curving into a small grin. "So An-chan, how did the date END? Did he kiss you?" She teased. The Genjutsu Mistress got the desired effect when Anko blushed a shade of red that would have a lobster running for a lawyer.

Anko took a deep tug on her bottle, draining it of its contents before answering. "Yeah. He did." She replied softly in a love-struck daze.

Kurenai couldn't hold back her laughter at the swooning that her notorious best friend was doing right at that moment. Anko looked a little annoyed with it. "What's so damn funny?" She pouted.

"Listen to you! Swooning like a school girl over a guy! I never thought I'd see this happen to YOU of all people!" Kurenai laughed.

"And what's THAT supposed to mean, Kure-chan?" Anko growled.

"Whoa there! I just meant that I thought you never considered things like this before! I mean, I've tried to get you into a dress for ages, but you've always refused to do it. Now, this new guy comes along, you two seem to click, and now here you are, back from your first date with the guy and his goodnight kiss nearly makes you cream. That had to be one hell of a kiss."

When Anko thought back to the goodnight kiss, it knocked her back into lala land. "I had no complaints." Anko replied, grinning widely as she got up and began to undress for the night.

"You going to bed, now?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah. I'm kinda beat. It's been a long day for me, y'know? Since its late, you can crash here if you want to."

Kurenai smiled and accepted, plopping back down on the couch and fell back into the peaceful slumber she was in when she came home. Anko shook her head with a chuckle and took a bath before bed. After all that, she finally hit the hay, not being able to think of anything other than the wonderful night she had just been through and the blonde man that made it possible.

_**HYUUGA COMPOUND - AT THE SAME TIME**_

Hinata was currently getting ready to take a small bath before she went to be when the door to the bath hall slid open to reveal her younger sister. "Oh, Hanabi-chan. You coming in, too?" She asked the knee-high girl.

Hanabi replied with a slight smirk. "Of course. After all, I want to hear ALL the details of your little date, Nee-chan." She answered as she passed her elder sister a small bottle of milk that she got from the kitchens on her way in.

The pair spent the first few minutes getting settled in and comfortable before they got down to talking about what happened during their night out. "Well, the first part of the night you and Nii-san saw, with Otou-sama giving Naruto-kun what he called a 'talk' until I came out." Hinata started out, throwing up air-quotes.

Hanabi remembered the talking to her father gave to the blond and started to laugh out loud. "That was hilarious! I thought he'd have a meltdown or something when he saw you, though." She snickered.

"You think so?" Hinata giggled. She loved the reaction she got from her intended target. She reduced the loudest Genin in Konoha to shocked silence and then to an awkward little boy.

"Yeah! I can see why you like him, just a little. He IS kind of cute in person and he cleans up very nicely. He also seemed like he was a real nice guy, not a stuck up jerk like most of our clan or that Uchiha jerk that all of the girls at the Academy seem so stuck on. I don't see what's so great about him, anyway. " Hanabi shrugged.

She had met the brooding Sasuke once before and found him to be boring, a very mature assessment for a girl her age. But then again, Hanabi always was a little beyond her years, like the time she got hold of one of her father's Icha Icha books and gave him a complete critique when she was 5 or when Hanabi went underwear shopping with her and some older female clan members and held up a very...provocative pair of panties for her to try on when she was 6.

However, the young girl had made it a habit of learning some things about Naruto in the past few months and was pleasently surprized. It was like Naruto was Sasuke's polar opposite in personality, despite both being orphans. He was considered the dead last of his class, but lately that classification has been less and less warranted. He seemed to get better and stronger almost exponentially and was already a quick thinker. Then there was tonight's events. Yep, Hanabi saw that Naruto was a keeper and was damning her luck that she wasn't Hinata's age.

Shaking her head, Hinata just chuckled away the memories. "I know what you mean, Imou-chan. I was in that jerk's class for years, and all he ever did was sulk and brood. Those brain-dead fangirls were always making trouble for anyone who threatens to do better than their precious Uchiha. I'm just glad that's all over and Naruto-kun and I are finally together."

Hanabi liked talking with her sister like this, but she wanted to get to the meat and potatos of the night. "Ne, ne...What else happened tonight, Nee-chan?" She asked with a sly grin.

Hinata adopted a mock thinking pose momentarily. "Nope. You're not old enough to hear, Imou-chan." She teased her little sister.

"Mou! Come on, tell me! Tell me!" Hanabi begged, putting on her pouty face, one that won over more than one adult within the clan. _'Even some of the Academy instructors, both shinobi and kunoichi, caved in with this one.'_ Hanabi thought, hoping Hinata would spill the beans.

Hinata began to snicker, then outright laugh. It had been a couple of years since she'd seen that face. Hanabi was beginning to look indignant. "Ne, ne...What's that for?! What's so funny?!"

Hinata took a moment to recompse herself. "Your face...It was just so cute! I'll tell you." She giggled as she recapped the enitre night for her.

Hanabi listened in wonder to her sister's story wishing that she could go on a date like that when she got older. She had heard stories about the two Jounin in who's company they were in. Anko Mitarashi was synonimous with the Boogieman the the T and I Department. Ichigo Suzumiya was a total mystery with no real background. Supposedly, there was nothing the Hyuuga information network couldn't find out, but everything about him other than his basic data like age, physical data, and rank were classified to all but the Hokage himself.

"But what about when he left, Nee-chan? Did you kiss him?" The sawed-off Hyuuga girl inquired with no lack of interest.

Hinata went back to her old self when confronted about her first kiss. "Y-yes...I did." She sqweaked out in embarrassment.

"Ahhh! How was it?!" Hanabi pressed excitedly.

"It...It was...wonderful." Hinata replied dreamily, chin resting in her palms.

The two carried on until the need for sleep hit the two of them. The Hyuuga sisters parted ways and settled down for the night. Hinata gave a framed candid picture she took of Naruto one day one final glance before closing her eyes.

"Goodnight, Naruto-kun."

_**NARUTO'S APARTMENT COMPLEX 2216 HRS**_

Ichigo had just returned to the complex and made his way over to check on Naruto. Since he had a spare key to the apartment, he let himself in quietly and checked around for him. He found the boy in his usual P.J's with a smile that threatened to split his face in two, mumbling out how he loved his Hina-chan and how soft her lips were.

He nearly lost his composure over those too cute statement made in his sleep and excused himself from the room.

Within the seal, Saki's face wore a large foxy smile as she saw the moment the Hyuuga girl kissed her container. _**'I'm so glad those two got together. They make such a cute couple and I can see that they will be very happy down the road. I know for a fact that she is a very kind soul and will love him always, till eternity come.'**_ She thought as she hunkered down and got some sleep herself.

Upon opening his own door, Ichigo found Haku asleep where she fell on his couch, snoring softly. She didn't even notice him coming into the apartment. _'Man, she's really wiped out...She can't be very comfortable here on the couch.'_ He mused.

He walked over to the couch and picked her up bridal style gently and tucked her into his own bed. He smiled fondly at his new found ward as she slumbered peacefully.

_'I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a parent, like I felt with Naruto? Did you feel this way with our children, Shiina?'_ He thought as he took out the clothes he would need for the next day and his P.J's and left the room to change and slept on the couch.

_**DREAMSCAPE : ICHIGO'S DREAM**_

No sooner than he closed his eyes, he opened them to find himself surrounded by white on all sides. He stood up and began to look around until he felt someone tap his shoulder, making him spin around quickly. To his surprize, he saw none other than Shiina standing before him, clad in a robe of pure white.

He could hardly believe what he was seeing as he furiously wiped his eyes. "This can't be happening...No way..." He muttered when she didn't disappear.

Shiina walked up to him and embraced him tightly. "No, Ichigo-koi. This isn't a dream. I always wondered what happened to you. I thought that you died, but you somehow wound up in the future. I'm so glad you're still alive."

"You're...real." He breathed as he embraced her tightly.

She hugged him back but pulled away. "Ichigo-koi, you have to let me go."

"W-why?!"

"You need to live and love again. You can't shut yourself away or push happiness away from you. I want you to be happy. This Anko, I see much of myself in her. Please don't see this as a betrayal of me. I approve of her." She told him sadly as she began to disappear.

"Shiina...don't go..." He choked out as he reached for her, only to come up empty.

"Goodbye, koibito. Live a long life and be happy, for me. I love you, forevermore." She told him as she faded away completely.

"Goodbye, my love." He whispered as he faded back into consciousness.

_**THE NEXT MORNING 0630 HRS**_

Haku woke up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes to find that she wasn't on the couch anymore. She shot up and went to look around to find her foster parent asleep on the couch instead.

_'He must have tucked me into his own bed. That was sweet of him to do.'_ She thought as an idea hit her. She went into the kitchen, put on the apron that he always used and whipped up some breakfast.

Ichigo slowly woke up when the smell of food wafted his way. He at first wondered who was cooking but remembered that he had Haku living with him now. He slipped on his hastily discarded uniform and made his way to the kitchen when he found breakfast waiting for him. Haku made some grilled Sanma with miso and rice, fairly simple yet it smelled so wonderful.

"Mornin', Haku-chan." He greeted her sleepily, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

Haku turned around and smiled. "Good morning, Ichigo-ojisan." She replied cheerfully.

_'Uncle Ichigo?'_ He wondered at she began to dish out the food onto three plates. Wait a tick. Three? Haku noticed the puzzled look on his face and explained that she invited Naruto over for breakfast and that he'd be there any second. No sooner than she said that, Naruto walked into the kitchen and took a good whiff of the food.

"Mmmm, smells good Haku-nee!" He complimented her as he saw his sensei. "Morning, Ichigo-sensei!" Naruto greeted happily as he took the seat across from him.

"Mornin', kiddo." He acknowleged the younger blonde as he sipped on his coffee a bit before Haku brought the plates to the table. He was pleased to see that Naruto was bearing the kodachi that he had given to him on the Wave mission. As soon as everyone was situated, the simultanious call of "Itadakimasu!" rang out as they ate their breakfast.

Afterwards, dishes were done and they all prepared for their respective days. Haku had planned on getting some training in as well as replenishing her senbon supply. She also planned on making dinner that night even though Ichigo told her that he would do that, so she would need to go shopping later. Ichigo nodded and left her some money to do so.

As for Naruto and Ichigo, they had a team meeting in 45 minutes so they went to get ready. As soon as all residents were prepared, the doors were locked behind them and their day was a go.

_**TRAINING GROUND #7 0800 HRS.**_

The blond duo both made it to the training grounds with moments to spare, which already earned him some points with the team. Naruto ran over to the team and got a strange reaction from Sakura, who averted her gaze from Naruto in shame. This was very strange behaivor for the pink haired girl and he wasn't the only one who noticed. Ichigo's eyes narrowed slightly, wondering what was going through her head at the moment.

_'Okay...this is kinda wierd.'_ Naruto thought as he shoved the thought aside for the moment.

Ichigo cleared his throat to speak. "My name is Ichigo Suzumiya, your new Jounin sensei as you already know. I was already briefed on how Kakashi handled you and I will put a stop to it, here and now. You will all be treated and trained equally and fairly. I will do my best to devote however long it takes to turn you all into the best you can be and also into a cohesive team." He stated to the new Team 7 and hopefully a better one.

"Now, to start off, I'd like you all to do introductions. I'll start off. I am Ichigo Suzumiya, age 24, birthday August 25th. My likes are good food, friends, training, and protecting all who are precious to me. My dislikes are rude, arrogant people who think everything should just be handed to them based on their name or status, ignorant people who prosecute the innocent, and outright cruelty. I haven't fully decided on my goal yet, but my dream is to one day have a family of my own, which I never had before."

Naruto already knew this much about his new sensei, so nothing really surprized him. Sasuke scoffed, knowing that some of the dislikes were aimed at people like him. Sakura, well, she didn't know what to think.

_**"He opened up a lot more than Kakashi did, but why did he seem so sad at the last part?"**_ I.S wondered.

_"Who cares?! This guy is a raving psychopathic murderer! Didn't you see what he did on the bridge?!" _F.G argued.

_**"Oh, shut up! He did that to protect us from all of those mercenaries! This sensei already won a couple of points in my book by being on time, actually introducing himself properly, and not reading a disgusting smut book while speaking to us. I like this guy already!"**_ I.S cheered, waving a little banner with Ichigo's face on it.

Ichigo really had some misgivings about taking over. He was already hounded by the Elder council about making sure that Sasuke was entered in the Chuunin Exams. He counter-argued with the fact that he wasn't seasoned enough and that Chuunin were leaders, which he was a dismal failure at. His self-centered nature would place any team he tried to lead in peril dur to his overly-inflated ego and pride. The Elders kept on pushing and pushing until he finally said that he would do it if only to show that he wasn't ready yet.

"Okay, first up will be sparring practice. Each of you will go one on one with me to determine your ability and what I should teach you. Sasuke Uchiha, you are first." He called out to the boy.

The two went out into the middle of the clearing and squared off. Sasuke immeadiately activated his Sharingan to Ichigo's dismay. "No Sharingan. Turn it off, please." He ordered.

Sasuke looked indignant at the order. "What?! Why?! I am an Uchiha!"

"I know that and so does 99% of the village, trust me. I said no Sharingan because you cannot come to rely on it all the time. It sucks up chakra to keep it active and you may find yourself in situations where you must conserve your chakra. Besides, the better you are without it, the better you will be when you do use it. You following this?"

Sasuke could do nothing but sulk at the fact that this sensei was nothing like Kakashi. He was serious about treating everyone fairly and not playing favorites.

_'How am I supposed to get the power to kill my brother if they won't focus on me?!'_ He fumed as he did as he was told and deactivated his eyes. With a snarl, he launched himself at his new sensei in an attempt to prove that he was the top dog of the team. After two minutes of gauging his style, he proceeded to pick him apart piece by piece using very basic tactics and jutsu to wear him down.

For every jutsu and move the Uchiha heir made, the blond sensei had just the counter for it. Finally, he decided to end the spar by using a standard arm bar takedown, making him tap out.

He released him and gave his thoughts. "I think that you need to refine your basics. Your taijutsu is very good for your age group and can only improve over time, but you have a habit of getting cocky and over-confident, not to mention letting your anger get the better of you. Your Katon jutsu library is decent for a Genin, but you failed to use the basic Academy jutsu, which could spare you a lot of pain and time."

Sasuke bristled at the comments, thinking that he was being insulted by being told that he still needs to improve. "Kakashi would have taught me a new jutsu by now. Why are you wasting your time on these two losers, anyway?"

Ichigo was pissed beyond belief at Sasuke's blatant disregard for his teammates, but when he looked over at Sakura and Naruto, he could tell that he wasn't alone in feeling that way.

"That's enough of that attitude, young man. You are on a TEAM and they are your TEAMMATES. The sooner that you get used to the fact that I don't run things like Hatake does, the better. I refuse to cater to your ego like he did and anything you learn from me, the others will, as well. Hear this and heed it, don't screw with me or you won't live long enough to regret it." He scolded the wannabe avenger as he called Naruto up next.

Naruto went up and took his turn. Naruto predictably used his Kage Bunshin, but he used fewer of them and was smarter with their usage. One move he used was using a clone like a hammer. Ichigo thought about it and dubbed it the Clone Sledgehammer. Next, he used his clones as stepping stones to change his momentum in midair to avoid a kick that he nearly ran face first into. He gave Ichigo a slightly harder time than Sasuke despite knowing him well, but took him down after a few minutes with a solid gut shot.

"Very good, Naruto. You still need to work on your chakra control some more and work on your hand seal speed. Your taijutsu form and technique are very good for your age like Sasuke, but I'd like you to work on your defenses. You get a little too eager to strike and you drop your guard as a result. On another note, the way you worked your Kage Bunshin into your taijutsu was a stroke of genius. Your opponents will have a much harder time with you if you keep coordinated with you clones. Finally, keep up the good work with using that short blade. You've gotten quick with your draw, but keep practicing. You'll only get better."

"Chakra control?! But sensei..." Naruto started to whine, but Ichigo knew better.

"No buts except yours, parked on that stump in meditation. Trust me, kiddo. It'll make your chakra go farther if you do. Meditation and chakra control exercises will be part of your daily warm ups from now on." He told the blond in full teacher mode as he turned to his final student.

"Sakura, it's your turn."

Sakura stood up and walked over to where her sensei was. She was understandably a bit nervous at facing her new sensei, but she stepped up anyway. Ichigo noticed her discomfort and wondered what was wrong.

"Is there anything wrong, Miss Haruno?" He asked her in a geniuely concerned tone.

Sakura looked up into her new sensei's eyes and saw that they were filled with honest concern for her well being. "I-it's nothing, sensei." She replied quickly, trying to cover up her nerviousness.

He wasn't convinced, but let it go. "Very well, then. Come at me. Use any means you wish, including lethal ones." He ordered.

He had her start the spar off with a move of her choice and got the ball rolling. Two minutes saw her panting heavily, convicing him to call off the spar. The pinkette was on her hands and knees, desperately trying to catch her breath. He was at her side in an instant, assessing the situation..

"Take it easy, just try to take deep breaths and raise your hands above your head to expand your lungs. This will help you breathe easier." He coached her as she started to feel better.

He offered his hand to help her stand and she took it nerviously.

"Your endurance needs a lot of work, Sakura. Your basic taijutsu form is decent, but you need to do more physical exercises to build to endurance, speed, and strength. To add to that, I hear that you diet all the time. My advice is to stop. It just isn't healthy for a girl your age to diet while she's still growing. Doing so can actually stunt your growth and development, as well as prevent you from gaining much needed muscle strength. Your chakra control is almost absurdly high for a girl your age, but your have next to non-existent stores, making your problem is just the opposite of Naruto's. I'd like you and Naruto to team up and help with each other's weaknesses while Sasuke refines his basic skills and works on his attitude." He informed the exhausted girl, extending his hand to help her up.

Training went on until the sun was beginning to set, which saw Sakura keel over in exhaustion, nearly out cold.

"Tch, she's such a weakling. She should just give this up. She'll never be anything but one of my fan girls." Sasuke scoffed at her efforts to improve herself.

His comments were really grating on Naruto and Ichigo's nerves. Naruto might not fawn over Sakura anymore, but this wasn't cool in his opinion. She was still a teammate and a comrade, and Sasuke's attitude was not helping their teamwork any.

The towering sensei cowed Sasuke into silence with a quick burst of Ki and dismissed the team for the day, sending them home. He moved over to the exhausted girl and loaded her onto his back. "Naruto, go on ahead. I have something to do in town." He told his young student.

Naruto gave a concerned glance at Sakura, but turned and headed straight for home. Sakura stirred on his back as he started to make his way to her home. "Mmmnn...Sensei?" She muttered groggily.

"Yes?" He replied to her.

"What happened? Why are you carrying me?" She asked.

"You over-exerted yourself during training, but its nothing a good meal and a good night's rest won't fix." He told her kindly.

"Oh..." She answered in a depressed tone.

"Now, something is wrong, isn't there? No use trying to hide it. I'd like to think they don't hand these vests out to just anyone, you know." He joked with her, giving a warm chuckle to match it.

His mirth and good humor seemed to put her at ease. _**"Ino was right. Something about him just eases me. He feels so soothing...I think we can trust him. He's nothing like that bastard Hatake in personality, thankfully**_." I.S spoke out to her host.

They began to talk about random things, like books and sweets (Which he actually liked, unlike most guys.) and he even opened up a little more, telling her a ficticious, but still accurate, portion of his past. When she heard about Shiina, her heart ached for her new sensei, even if the WAY he told it wasn't the truth.

"Sensei, why are you telling me all this?" She asked. She was puzzled as to why he would give up any info about himself.

"Because I want to show you that you can trust me. I won't pry into your lives, but it would be nice if you all trusted me enough to tell me when you're having a problem. I'm your sensei, yes, but a student should be able to trust their sensei and vice versa." He told her honestly.

The answer she got made her smile ever so faintly as she tightened her grip around his neck before she fell into a peaceful sleep. _**"Thank you...sensei." **_I.S whispered as she herself fell silent.

_**HARUNO RESIDENCE**_

Ichigo reached her house around late afternoon and walked into the Haruno's shop. Takeo was sitting behind the counter and Sanae was sweeping in the back when he came in. When they saw the state of their little girl they began to fret, but the tall blond told the fretting parents that she was simply tired and fell asleep as he carried her home.

Sanae gave him a very grateful smile as he released Sakura gently into her father's arms. The three of them took her up to her room and put her to bed for the evening.

As he was about to take his leave and go home, Sanae stopped him. "Please. We must do something to repay you for your kindness. If anything stay for dinner. It's the least we could do." She pleaded. This new sensei was almost heaven sent. He reminded them so much of what the Yondaime was like and they wanted to show their appreciation.

"Well, if I could invite Naruto and one other over, I'd love to." He replied.

The Haruno parents were ecsatic at the acceptance. They would also get to see Naruto again after so long to boot.

"Of course, you can! We'd love to see Naruto-chan again!" Sanae told him gleefully.

With that said, he stepped outside and vanished in a small cyclone of water. Five minutes later, he reappeared with Naruto and Haku in tow. The elder Haruno woman rushed over to Naruto and snatched him up in a tight embrace. She'd missed him and worried about him terribly and it showed.

"You've grown so much, Naruto-chan...I remember when you were much smaller, you were so adoreable and still are!" She squealed in delight as she did what most women were tempted to do when they found something irresistibly cute, the glomp of death.

Takeo was next, noting the short blade on his back and patting the boy on his back heartily. "I agree. You've really grown, m'boy. You're even a real live shinobi now and you certainly look the part with that blade you carry. I'm so proud of you." He told the blond boy, who responded with a sad, but still happy smile. These were two of his most precious people and they were proud of him, just like he hoped they'd be.

Next were introductions to Haku. He explained that she was originally from Water Country, but when her 'father' died when they were on their mission in Wave Country, she was taken in by Ichigo, who became her legal guardian until she was 18, as well as the fact that she became like a big sister to Naruto.

"Oh my, Haku-chan! You're such a pretty young lady!" Sanae gushed over the ice wielding girl, who blushed brightly with a shy smile. Haku never really had an older female around to talk to.

After pleasentries and greetings were done, the group all filed into the dining room for supper. Sanae spent the majority of the evening mothering Naruto, making sure he ate enough, asking him about his date with Hinata and how they were doing, making up for all the time that was lost when Naruto had to disappear for her family's protection 5 years ago.

Sakura sat up in her bed, listening to the merriment down at the dinner table. _'Why are they so happy with the Dobe, the Psycho, and the Ice Wench? They're nowhere near as cool as Sasuke-kun, but why do they like them so much?'_ F.G wondered, confused as to why anyone would be happy with Naruto's company.

_**"You just don't learn, do you? When are you going to learn that Naruto-kun, Sensei, and Haku-san aren't the problem, you are. Listen to the happiness that we always miss out on because of your stupid obsession."**_ I.S countered.

F.G. scoffed. _"Please, Naruto is useless, Sensei is a heartless murderer, and that ice bitch is out to steal my Sasuke-kun!"_

_**"Sensei is NOT a murderer!! He is a VERY kind man and I'm proud that he's our sensei! Naruto is not useless, either! He saved us on that Wave Mission more than once, which you so conveinently forgot, and Haku-san hates that stupid Uchiha almost as much as I do!" **_I.S roared. What Ichigo did for her today sealed her undying respect for the man and wouldn't hear an ill word about him. She was very proud that he would be teaching her from now on.

As the two inner personas were busy waging the next global war in her head, Naruto and Co. were preparing to leave for home.

"Ahhh! Such a lovely dinner, Sanae-san! We had such a nice evening, didn't we guys?" Ichigo asked his small group while stretching out his arms.

"Yes, you are quite a good cook, Haruno-san." Haku said politely, but meaning every word of it.

"Yeah! It brought back some good memories..." Naruto added wistfully.

Sanae chuckled and colored slightly at the praise. "Thank you for the compliments Haku-chan, Naruto-chan, Ichigo-kun. You are all welcome back any time you want!" She told them gleefully as they walked off into the night together.

She really did want them to come back. She thought that Haku was a very nice girl and was glad that someone like her had taken up a sisterly role in Naruto's life. She also believed that it was very noble of Ichigo to take her in like he did. She knew that the council was greedy by nature and would have exploited her to no end had he and the Hokage not done what they did.

"They really make a good family, don't they dear?" Sanae asked her husband.

"Yeah, they do. Ichigo would make a wonderful father someday with how he handles Naruto and Haku, as well as how he handled Sakura when he brought her home." Takeo replied, agreeing with the woman he loved.

"Naruto-chan has certainly grown up well. He looked just like a professional shinobi, a far cry from the boy he used to be. But, underneath, the loveable little boy we knew is still there, just a little more mature now." Sanae commented as she went inside to clean up and go to bed for the night, her husband close behind.

Sakura had watched the send off from her window. _"My parents...really think of them that way?" _F.G Sakura wondered, nearly stupified.

_**"If you'd pull your head out of the Teme's ass every once and a while, you'd notice these things. You really are a first-rate dumbass."**_ I.S sighed in exasperation.

_A/N: There. Done. Sorry about the long wait. I just wanted to show what happened during Team 7's first day without Kakashi. You all knew that Sasuke wouldn't be very happy with Ichigo's teaching style, since he won't be the center of attention and hogging all of the training for himself anymore. I wanted to have that in here to show the sharp contrast in the two sensei. _

_Also, Ichigo at least tried to EARN the trust and respect of his students, where Kakashi just expected it to be given. His first order of business was to attempt to cure Sakura of her Fangirlism completely, which will be a hell of a job in and of itself. Ino's was relatively easy, due to the support of her teammates and sensei. All she needed was one final nudge in the right direction. _

_Finally, Sakura's two sides are coming closer to a final reckoning, as I.S. was in control for most of the day. She actually likes having Ichigo around as a sensei, where F.G is frightened of him._

_Enough of my idiotic rambling. Please leave reviews if you add this to your alerts or favorites._


	13. Chapter 13

_Hey y'all! I'm back with a new chapter and I hope that you'll like it and feed me the review that I'm jonesing for! In this chapter, you will see Hinata's day after the date and how things progress. I took this down, changed it and re-posted it, so hopefully I don't get so many nasty-grams. _

Now...

_**ENJOY THE DAMN FIC!**_

_**EARLIER THAT DAY **_

_**HYUUGA COMPOUND**_

Hinata woke up slowly to the sound of her alarm, stopping it with a light smack. She looked at the time, groaned a bit as she got up and began to get ready to meet her team for training and maybe a mission. As she went through her morning routine, she really didn't want to deal with Kiba right now, especially after what he tried to do the previous day.

_'That wasn't right to frame Naruto-kun for something he didn't do just because Haku-san or myself won't be his girlfriend. He will just have to face the facts that we are not interested in him. Naruto-kun is the only one for me.'_ She told herself as she made her way to the kitchen to prepare herself a bento for lunch and some breakfast.

After preparing her lunch, she sat down at her families dining table between Hanabi and Neji and dug in. The two noticed that she carried herself with much more confidence and knew who to thank for that.

_'Hmm...That date must have gone well if she's this happy. I'd hate to be on her bad side again, though.'_ Neji thought with an involuntary shudder. 'Dark Hinata' was just as frightening as Hiashi on a bad day was, if not more so.

Neji and Hiashi had come to an understanding after he began to lighten up. Hiashi explained what happened when his father died and told his nephew that he still missed his brother. The boy smiled and forgave his uncle, thus bringing the family closer together.

After she was finished, Hinata gave her thanks and headed out of the compound to meet up with her team and sensei for training.

_**TEAM 8 TRAINING GROUNDS**_

Hinata was the first to arrive at their team's favorite training grounds as she sat down on a stump to wait for her teammates. The first person to arrive was Shino, who gave her a subtle nod in greeting as he proceeded to mimic her in finding a stump to sit down on while they waited. After a few moments more, the last person she wanted to see showed himself, Kiba. He zeroed in one Hinata and immeadiately slinked over beside her, all but ignoring her personal space or comfort.

"Kiba-san, would you not sit so close like that?" She politely requested of him, only to have it go completely unheeded as he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in.

"Aw, come on, Hinata-chan! Why waste your time on the dobe when you've got me right here? I won't tell if you don't." He told her in a hormone drenched tone as he leaned in to steal a kiss, only to have Shino grab the collar of his jacket and pull him away from his obviously uninterested teammate.

Kiba was indignant at what Shino did. "What the hell, man? Do you see ME wrecking your chances, slim as they are, at gettin' some tail?" He shouted at the silent and unflinching Aburame.

"She obviously did not want you that close to her, Kiba. Please respect your teammate's wishes." Shino stated in his usual monotone voice.

Kiba began to sputter in anger as he prepared to deck the bug-user until Kurenai chose that moment to show up. She heard a snippet of what was going on and was not pleased, not in the least.

"Kiba, what did you mean by about 'gettin' some tail' and what does that have to do with Hinata?" She asked him in a very frosty tone, her crimson eyes narrowed in displeasure and suspicion.

He went pale as he launched into a diatribe of excuses to keep her from telling his mother about what he was doing. It seemed to work for the time being, but she still kept a wary eye on him. _'Geez...It's not enough to have that Ice-Bitch mad at me, but sensei, too? Damn you Naruto, this is all your fault! Hinata is mine, she just doesn't know it yet.'_

Throughout the practice session and during their D-Rank mission, Kurenai and Shino kept an eagle eye on Kiba to keep him from doing anything stupid. Shino wasn't stupid, he knew that Hinata already had her heart set on Naruto and he returned her feelings, making the two an official couple. Hinata had come a long way in such a short time and it just wouldn't do to have a boorish lout like Kiba undo all of the progress that Hinata has made.

Kurenai felt very much the same way. She felt that this change that had come over Hinata in recent weeks was a very welcome one, seeing the once painfully shy and timid girl break out of her shell. Naruto had worked wonders for her confidence and he was actually a good influence on her. On the other hand, Kiba was about as hormone drenched as one could get. There were times that she caught him staring at her ass, but refrained from putting her student through a Genjutsu induced hell. He was almost as bad as the bar rats that always hit on her and Anko and never let up. She would have to do something about him sooner or later, of that she was certain.

Before they knew it, practice had come to an end and she had dismissed her team for the day. No sooner than the words left her lips, Kiba was right back to hounding Hinata into going out with him.

"Hey, Hina-chan. Why don't we go find the dobe and tell him that we're together. I know that you'll like ME better, anyway." The dog-boy told her as he laid down his 'best' moves. Unbeknownst to him but knownst to us, his lame and pathetic pick up line only served to infuriate her and before he knew it, he was the recipient of a chakra packed, full knuckle punch from the Hyuuga maiden that may have caused the need for orthidontal care.

"First of all, Inuzuka-_san, _only my family, very close friends, Ichigo-sensei and Naruto-kun can call me Hina-chan. Secondly, don't you EVER touch me without my permission again. Last but certainly not least, don't you EVER call my Naruto-kun a dobe EVER again, or being able to have little dog boys and girls will be the LEAST of your worries." She snarled at his crumpled form as she stormed off towards home.

Kurenai and Shino had been ready to jump in and restrain the overbearing horndog but Hinata had handled the situation quite well and she had a hell of a right hook, as well. They both looked at the fallen Inuzuka heir with a sigh of disgust. Kurenai finally picked him up by the scruff of his shirt.

"I'll take Kiba home. I need to talk with his mother, anyway." She told Shino as she Shunshin'd away.

Shino adjusted his sunglasses slightly. "Things just got troublesome." He muttered as he made his way back to the Aburame compound, nicknamed the Hive.

_**MEANWHILE, WITH TEAM 10**_

Asuma sighed loudly, letting out a drag he'd been holding in from his cigarette for a few moments. Shikamaru and Chouji had been improving steadily since he became their sensei and so had Ino, but he'd really like to know where he head was at today, as would her teammates.

After Ino threw another sloppy and poorly aimed kick at Chouji, the chain-smoking sensei called the spar to a halt. "Ino, what's going on? You're so distracted today, it's not like you. Why don't you go sit down and rest for a few minutes while Shikamaru and Chouji spar?" He told her as her had he sit beneath a tree to think things over.

_'What's wrong with me? I just can't seem to concentrait on anything today. I wonder...'_ She thought until the reason hit her.

_'Naruto-kun...'_ She thought sadly. She had been out of sorts since learning that she really liked the spiky blond, but then learning that Hinata had already taken him immeadiately afterwards. In short, she was becoming depressed that the one she had overlooked for years while trying like a fool to gain the favor of a massive jerk, the one who she felt would be perfect for her and fit every single bit of her requirements, the boy whom she had hurt very badly since the moment she met him, but was kind enough to forgive her, was already taken by the last person on earth she expected to ask him out.

_'Hinata's so lucky...I don't want to, but...'_ She paused, feeling the sting of tears forming in her baby blue eyes.

_'I feel so jealous...I can't help it! I love Naruto-kun! I don't want to feel so horrible!'_ She inwardly wailed while on the outside she was failing to fight back the tears. She got up and ran to Asuma, telling him that she wasn't feeling too good. Noticing the tears in her eyes, he told her to go home and rest and that he would be by later to check up on her, making sure she was okay.

_**YAMANAKA FLOWER SHOP**_

She quickly made her way across the rooftops until she finally made it home, running right to her mother while she cried her eyes out. Akari was both stunned and greatly alarmed by her daughters behaivor, so she quickly hung the closed sign in the shop as she escorted Ino to the kitchen and sat her her down at the table.

"Ino dear, what's wrong?" She asked greatly concerned.

"Mom...is it a bad thing to really like someone who's already going out with another girl?" She asked her mother.

"Wha...? What do you..." She stammered until she understood what was going on.

"I see. This is about Naruto, isn't it?" Akari inquired softly to which Ino nodded.

"It is...Since team selections and since Ichigo-sensei had that talk with me, I've thought about a lot of things that pining over that jerk Sasuke cost me. Ichigo-sensei asked me what I would look for in the man I want to be with and I told him. He then asked me which of those traits Sasuke embodied, which was none. I then took it a step further and looked for people with those traits and found Naruto and Ichigo-sensei himself. I even figured out about Naruto's burden, the Kyuubi, but that doesn't matter to me and I wanted to tell him that. But before I could say anything to Naruto or confess to him, he left on a mission to Wave Country. When he came back, Hinata found him first and that's when we found him in that clothes shop with his new Onee-chan." Ino confided in her mother.

Akari sighed deeply at how much her little girl was hurting. Yamanaka's were always very sensitive to their feelings and no matter how much Ino tried to hide it, she had fallen for Naruto hard since learning of his burden. Ino had finally seen him for the person he really is and loved him for it, but now his heart had been captured by the one who had loved him for a long time, Hinata Hyuuga.

"I don't know what to tell you, dear. It's hard, the one you love being just out of reach. Maybe you should talk with Hinata-chan? Maybe she can help you with your feelings." She suggested as she moved back into the kitchen, getting dinner started.

Ino was understandibly pensive about the idea. She had seen Hinata angry on the day the teams were formed and the Hyuuga maiden had nearly shredded Sakura's face for an errant remark. She stated that she would no longer hold herself back and would not tuck her tail in anymore. How would she react to someone else liking her boyfriend? The images playing in her head of what could happen were not pretty.

She steeled her resolve as she made her way out the door and to the Hyuuga compound.

_**HYUUGA COMPOUND**_

Ino was walking along the road into the higher clan district, near the old Uchiha district, when she finally came up to the gate for the Hyuuga compound. She walked up to the Branch House guards and cleared her throat.

"I am here to speak with Lady Hinata." She announced in a clear tone like her mother taught her when dealing with the Hyuuga.

The male guard looked her up and down before speaking. "Who calls upon Lady Hinata?" He asked.

"Tell her that Ino Yamanaka wishes to talk with her about something very important." She announced, steeling herself for any possible reaction.

The two guards bowed. "I shall escort you to Lady Hinata's quarters, Lady Ino." He answered her as he opened the gate to allow her inside. She wasn't used to being called Lady Ino. Once inside, he lead her around the compound to Hinata's room. On the way there, she got her first look inside the luxurious Hyuuga mansion and whistled, impressed.

_'So, this is how the upper crust lives...Nice.'_ She commented inwardly as she and her escort finally came to a stop.

"Here is Lady Hinata's room. Please enjoy your stay." He bowed formally as he excused himself. Ino gulped loudly as she knocked on Hinata's door.

_"Who is it?"_ A voice, Hinata's, asked from inside.

"It's me, Ino Yamanaka." She announced. No sooner than she said that, she felt the air around her chill considerably.

_"Oh. What did you want to talk about?"_ She asked in a frosty tone that made Ino flinch.

_'Ooooh...She's still pretty mad about what me and Forehead did and said that day, not to mention she sounds like she's had a bad day. Oh man! This is a bad idea!'_ She thought as she formulated her next response.

"I-I came to talk to you about Naruto-kun." She replied.

Silence greeted her and reigned for a few moments until Hinata responded by opening the door. "Come in." She told her curtly.

Ino set foot into the Hyuuga girl's room and noticed immeadiately a picture that had to be a candid shot of a younger Naruto in a frame with a heart, which made Ino give a small grin, bolstering her confidence ever so slightly.

"What is it that you wish to talk to me about, Ino-san?" She asked in a clipped tone.

"As I said before, I wanted to talk with you about Naruto-kun."

"Since when was he been Naruto_-kun _to you, Ino-san? I thought that you and Haruno-san hated him and couldn't care less about what happened to him?" She asked, her eyes narrowed with wariness.

Ino couldn't blame her for being a little hostile and suspicious of her, but she would not back down from what she honestly felt for the blond boy. "He became that to me when I realised what I was throwing away. Ichigo-sensei taught me to open my eyes and when I did, I saw Naruto-kun for who he really is, a very kind and caring person."

Hinata's eyes widened at the mention of Ichigo, who helped her gain the confidence to ask Naruto out in the first place. It looks like he had helped her out too.

"You...know Ichigo-sensei?" She inquired curiously.

Ino perked up slightly. She had found common ground with her to make talking with her easier.

"Yeah...He approached Asuma-sensei about some Fuuton jutsu and they made an exchange for teaching my team some of his Taijutsu. He actually got Shikamaru to be less lazy and made Chouji proud of being thick. As for how he helped me...You know how a lot of us dieted for that rat Sasuke? Everyone tried to get me to stop, but I was stubborn and thought that Sasuke liked skinny women. After training one day, he asked me to walk with him through the village, stopping at a dango stand. Once there, he asked me what kind of guy that I liked and I told him that he had to be kind, funny, smile a lot, and like a girl for who she really is."

Before Hinata knew it, she was hooked on the story and wanted to know more.

"He then asked me which of these traits Sasuke embodied and that threw me for a loop. For once, I had nothing to say to defend my ways. He walked me home and told me that he had confidence that I would figure it out. During the week my team had off, I studied how Sasuke treated everyone and saw that he was absolutley awful to everyone. He was rude, arrogant and demanded everything to be handed to him."

What Hinata was hearing was making her already horrid opinion of the last Uchiha even lower. But her opinion of Ichigo-sensei rose even higher.

"I then took that same idea and studied the people around me and found a few people who had those traits. One of them was Ichigo-sensei, who saved me from myself. Without him, I would have kept on hurting the people who would have truly cared for me and wound up like Sakura would have had Naruto not been her teammate, battered and alone. The other was Naruto himself. He was always very kind to everyone, despite how everyone treats him. He even tries to help out his teammates, but they always have a hurtful remark for him."

Hinata gasped when she heard that. She had heard of Sasuke's less than gentle approach towards Sakura in the past, but that was uncalled for and completely appalling for someone from a higher clan. When it came to Ichigo, she felt the same way about the tall blond. It was like having a sneak peek at what Naruto would be in the future and they both liked what they saw on that front.

"I tried to find him so that I could apologize for the way I treated him for so long, but he was always so difficult to track down. Then he left on that mission to Wave country. When he came back, I tried to find him again, but when I found him..." She trailed off, fighting back her tears.

"He told me that you had already asked him out..." She finished as her tears came unbidden.

Hinata was shocked at the former fangirl's show of emotion. From this she could only draw one logical conclusion.

"Ino-san...You like Naruto-kun, don't you?" She asked the pony-tailed blond softly.

Ino didn't even have to say or do anything. Her downcast expression and light crying were enough of an answer for her. She thought that she could take a risk with her.

"Do you know about his darkest secret?" She asked in a hushed tone, careful to not be overheard.

Ino knew exactly what she was talking about. "You mean about the Kyuubi? I know, but I don't care. Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun, and that's good enough for me."

Hinata got the answer she was hoping for, along with avoiding capital punishment. Ino obviously loved him very deeply and it was a very honest love, not the fangirl affection she had for the Uchiha. In many ways, it mirrored her own. Sadly, at least for Ino, Hinata would never dream of parting with him or even share him. Considering how she'd loved him for, theoretically, years, she had the right to be a little selfish with his affections.

"Ino-san, I love him, too. I love him so much, but I can tell that you do, too. However, I'm not going to give him up nor will I share him with anyone. I have loved him ever since we were little and I am entitled to be a little selfish in that regard." She stated with a hint of finality, at odds with the girl she used to be four months ago.

Ino's tears still came and they wore on Hinata's conscience slightly. "I can...allow you to get your feelings off of your chest, allow you some form of closure to allow you to move on. It's the least I can do for you since you knew about the Kyuubi and kept it to yourself." She amended.

Ino smiled. She was at least being given the chance to confess and let it out. This would help her at least start over and she would still be his friend. With that out of the way the two girls promptly left for Naruto's apartment.

_**NARUTO'S APARTMENT COMPLEX**_

After finally reaching the top floor, the two girls made their way among all of the empty apartments on this floor to find a small plate on the door that simply said "Uzumaki", and knocked.

After recieveing no answer for five minutes, they just though that he wasn't home until Naruto, Haku and Ichigo came parading up the steps in good spirits.

"Oh, hey there, girls!" Ichigo greeted them merrily, everyone still in their shinobi attire.

Naruto then looked over and noticed them as well. "Hey Hina-hime! Ino-chan! What brings you guys here?" He asked, to which they both sported a supportive smile.

"Naru-kun, we...have some to talk to you about. Something very important." Hinata told him.

"Well, you all are welcome to talk at my place if you want." Ichigo offered.

The girls accepted and they all filed inside of the slightly larger apartment. It looked like they were working to combine the two apartments into one big one, but was only half finished. They all sat down in Ichigo's living room to say what they came to say.

The girls looked at each other and on some unseen cue, Hinata started to explain what was going on.

"Naruto-kun, Ino-san wants to tell you something that;s been bothering her." She told him softy as she got close to whisper into his ear.

_"Please, be gentle. She knows, but she didn't care about your burden. Be kind to her and set her down softly."_ The kind hearted Hyuuga girl implored.

Naruto nodded as Ino began to tell him what she wanted to say. "Naruto-kun, do you remember what I said when I apologized the other day?"

"Yeah, I do. What's wrong, Ino-chan?"

"Well, I...Over the past couple of months..." She began to explain as she told him of how Ichigo helped her get rid of her fangirl problem and see things and people for what and who they really are, without Sasuke to cloud her judgement.

"That brings me to say this...I kinda...developed a crush on you." She admitted.

Naruto was shocked, but not as shocked as he thought he'd be. Haku was a little confused until Ichigo explained what happened prior to her arrival in the village, to which she nodded in understanding.

Naruto took in and released a deep breath before he answered her. "I'm flattered Ino-chan, I really am. But, I'm with Hinata. She loves me, always has. I love her just as much. I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings, but we can still be good friends, can't we?" He asked of her sincerely.

_'He's trying so hard to be considerate...It'll be hard, but I'll let you have him, Hinata. You deserve him much more than I do.'_ She thought as she responded to his declination.

She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "Thank you...for giving me the chance to tell you, even if you don't feel the same way about me. Being your friend is good enough for me." She told him as she gave him a friendly peck on the cheek before turning to Hinata.

"You're very lucky, Hinata. What I wouldn't give for someone like him, what a lot of girls wouldn't give..."

"I know, Ino-san. I thank Kami and Ichigo-sensei for giving me the courage to finally ask him out. I've watched him for years, so I know exactly how lucky I am." She replied as she took the blond girl into her arms to give her some comfort. Once the girl had settled down, Naruto asked how Hinata's day with her team went, but was greeted with a growl of displeasure. Hinata told them of how Kiba had behaved and the things he said, which made their blood boil. Ichigo was a hair away from...removing the problem. Haku was chiding herself for not putting more pressure on the jerk. Naruto and Ino both wanted to go down to his place and knock his teeth in, Naruto for him hitting on his girlfriend and Ino for Kiba being such a creep.

Hinata looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and saw that it was getting late. With hugs and farewells said, the two young kunoichi set off for home. Naruto and Haku both yawned and got settled down for the night, but Ichigo had his concerns. Hinata account of what happened eariler that day spooked him for a reason he couldn't pin down, so he slipped out into the night and shadowed the girls for their safety.

_**KONOHA STREETS**_

Ino and Hinata were walking back into the town proper since the complex was a little off the beaten path and towards the outskirts of town. Following them unseen and a few yards back, Kiba Inuzuka was tailing them while muttering on about how unfair it was that the 'Dobe' snagged two cute girls for himself and left none of an 'elite' like him. He really wanted a taste of what Naruto was in for first, so his best bet was to ambush Hinata and 'persuade' her to see things his way. Ino would only be an added bouns.

Also tailing the girls, Ichigo was providing overwatch, watching over the two girls protectively until they made it safely home. As soon as they entered the village proper, he noticed a figure stalking them, inching closer and closer while trying to move ahead of them to cut them off.

_'Oh no, you don't.'_ He thought as he sped down to where the stalker was, tailing him even closer while remaining unseen.

Kiba had finally gotten ahead to the girls and decided to make his move. He stepped out of the shadows into the moonlight, leering at them with a perverted grin. "Why would two fine looking girls like you be doing out without a REAL man to escort you? The dobe too much of a pussy to walk you home? Lucky me."

"I thought that I told you I'm not interested in you, Kiba. Go away." Hinata told him in a cold and serious tone.

"Ooh. Fiesty. I want you to put up a good struggle. Makes the ending much more enjoyable." He told in a very creepy tone. The leering gaze he fixed them with was beginning to scare them as he advanced on the two.

"Back off, dog breath. I'm warning you." Ino growled at him, having little to no effect. Even Akamaru was barking and growling at him to stop, but his master was too consumed with lust and hormones to back off. Finally getting annoyed, he grabbed the pup and flung him to the side.

"Now, let's have a tatse of what you girls got to offer me. If I like it, I'll just have to take some more. Not like the dobe can do anything about it." He sneered as he lunged at them, only for a powerful water blast to slam the attempted rapist into a concrete wall. The girls looked over at who could have fired off such a powerful jutsu so silently to see none other than Ichigo, his hand extended in the direction of Kiba's crumpled form with a scowl on his face.

"Ichigo-sensei!" The girls cried as they hugged him tightly. Even if they were both kunoichi and trained to fight, Kiba's actions were way too creepy for them to react properly.

Ichigo created a pair of Kage Bunshin. "I want you to go get Kurenai and Hiashi Hyuuga to meet us at the Inuzuka estate. Tell them what happened." He ordered the first one, which nodded and bolted off to find the crimson-eyed sensei.

"You, go and fetch Inoichi and Asuma. Tell them what happened here and have them meet us at the Inuzuka estate." He told the other clone, who nodded and did as he was told.

He turned his attention to the girls. "Now, I'll escort you two to the Inuzuka estate and let you tell Kiba's mother what he's be up to. I've sent out shadow clones to inform your sensei and parents, who will be joining us there shortly." He informed them as he threw the beaten Inuzuka over his shoulder while Hinata picked up Akamaru, who was actually trying to make his master stop. When they were ready to go, he enveloped them in a shell of water and teleported them away to the Inuzuka compound.

_**INUZUKA COMPOUND**_

In a small tornado of water, Ichigo and his small party arrived at the front gates of the compound of the Inuzuka clan. The Ino and Hinata were a little wary of being so close to the clan of the one who tried to rape them, but his mere presence calmed them greatly as they waited for the arrival of the others.

Five minutes late, Kurenai and Asuma appeared in a cloud of smoke, with Inoichi close behind them in his pajamas. Hiashi came along a few moments later, and Ichigo let the gate guards see who he was holding.

"What have done to the heir?" The guard snarled, only to be cowed by the combined Ki of the five Jounin, two of them clan heads, one being Hiashi Hyuuga himself.

"We would like to see Tsume Inuzuka. This is regarding the actions of her son." Ichigo told the guards in a calm yet menacing tone, an aura of power and malice roiling off of him in distinct waves.

The guard caved in almost instantly as he scrambled to let them in and showed them to the study of the clan Alpha.

The guard knocked on the study door. "Tsume-sama. There are people here to see you."

A rough voice barked out from the other side of the door. _"Yeah? Who is it? It's late!"_

"Hiashi-sama, Inoichi-sama, Yuuhi-san, Sarutobi-san, and Suzumiya-san are here. They have Kiba with them." He informed his leader, braceing himself for the outburst.

_"What? Send them in, NOW!"_ She roared.

The guard opened the door to allow them inside. They were now facing an enraged Tsume Inuzuka, who sitting behind her desk snarling at the tall blond who had her only son slung over his shoulder, but flopped him roughly onto the ground.

"What is the meaning of this? What have you done to my son?" She demanded.

"If you will allow me to, I will tell you. Your son has been stalking Hinata Hyuuga and Ino Yamanaka this whole night with the intent to rape them to get what he wants. He feels slighted that they chose another over him, so he chose this...disgusting course of action. He is lucky that I chose not to punish him more for his trangressions. It was well within my right as a Konoha Jounin to administer punishment on a offending ninja of equal or inferior rank." Ichigo snarled angrily, which was followed with scowls and looks of extreme anger from the two other sensei and the parents of said girls, being fellow clan heads themselves.

Inoichi stepped forward. "That little punk would have hurt my daughter just to get his rocks off! I WILL be seeking some kind of reparation to amend for this heinous offense." He growled in a tone that would not have been out of place considering where they are.

Hiashi took his stopping as his cue to go next. "I recommend that you administer a fitting punishment, considering the altenative to letting your foolish son and heir start a clan war that you cannot hope to win. When my daughter says no, she means no. Your clan is very fortunate that Suzumiya-san stopped the boy before anything happened to my eldest daughter and clan heiress, otherwise blood would have been spilled tonight." He told her in the same clam yet dangerous tone that Ichigo had used on the guards.

Asuma steeped forward next. "I don't really take kindly to some over-privledged punk thinking he can take forced liberties with MY student. That boy was lucky that _**I**_ wasn't the one to catch him or he'd be missing a limb."

Kurenai saw that it was her turn to address the situation. "I should have seen this coming after he ceaselessly harassed Hinata in an attempt to make her go out with him. He started getting more physical after she and Naruto Uzumaki became an official couple, but I never thought that he would stoop so low as to attempt rape. I am deeply ashamed of him and if he is not suitably punished, then I will have him kicked off of my team and sent back to the Academy, or possibly removed from the shinobi program altogether."

Tsume's head drooped in shame. Her own son, clan heir and future Alpha of the clan, stooping to rape to get what he wants. He'd be getting his, alright. Without warning, the door to the study burst open and a young woman with long brown hair tied back into a ponytail and the clan markings on her cheeks came running in.

"I heard the yelling, mother! What's happening?" She yelled eyeing the other occupants of the room with suspicion.

Ichigo took the lead in explaining what happened and why her runt of a brother was knocked out on the floor. After he explained, she was just a furious as the others at his actions and she and her mother formally apologized for Kiba's actions on his behalf. The parents weren't too accepting, but the girls accepted them.

Kiba's older sister looked at Ichigo again and realized that she didn't know him. "Who are you? I don't really remember seeing you around before." She asked him innocently. Her head was filled with questions about this mysterious Jounin and was especially interested in the way he managed to cow her mother.

Ichigo had calmed himself considerably since they had apologized to them. "I'm Ichigo. Ichigo Suzumiya. Jounin sensei." He told her.

She wore a slight grin as she introduced herself. "My name's Hana, Hana Inuzuka. Chuunin and Veterenary specialist." She replied. She was getting interested in this man and her mother could see it.

_'We might not be in so much trouble after all.'_ Tsume thought as she turned her attention to the parents and other sensei.

"I am very sorry for what he tried to do. I honestly thought that I taught him better than that, but he's taking after his father and that's no laughing matter. It's an issue that I am glad you all brought to my attention and rest assured that I'll deal with him...personally." The Inuzuka Mistress apologized sincerely, with made the adults ease up.

Kurenai looked over at how Hana was attempting to flirt with Ichigo and warning alarms were going off in her head. _'Ooooh...Trying to horn in on Anko's man, huh? That's going to be hazardous to her health if Anko finds out.'_ She thought as Ichigo politely declined a date offer from Hana, along with telling her that he's currently seeing somebody, which made the Inuzuka maiden droop with disappointment.

Leaving Kiba to his mother's mercy, the adults and two girls all filed outside of the compound, but before going their seperate ways, Hiashi and Inoichi had something they wanted to say to Ichigo.

"Suzumiya-san, I just want to say thank you for doing what you did. Had you not, a clan war would have erupted and caused a civil war within Konoha, one which we can ill afford. Should you need any assistance, I will do my best to help you in return for this deed." The Hyuuga leader thanked him as he bowed in respect.

Inoichi clapped him on his shoulder. "Thank you for saving my little girl once again. My offer is the same as his, my clan is now your ally."

Kurenai and Asuma said their thanks as well, but the girls had something different for him. After asking him to bend down to their height, they each pecked him on the cheek as a thank you before they all left. Once they were gone, he decided to leave himself in a cyclone of water, his usual fashion. From the shadows, Hana watched him leave with great interest.

_'Taken, huh? We'll see about that. This is the kind of man I want for MY mate.'_ She thought as she retired to bed for the night.

_A/N: Chapter thirteen done and over with! I originally planned on having a small harem but thought better of it, so I changed it. This just shows that their growing up and that it sucks sometimes._

_With Kiba, he is one of those guys out there that are deluded enough to believe that they are God's gift to women and can't take no for an answer. There are plenty out there and I've seen them at work. It's kind of disgusting watching it happen in my opinion and I'm a guy. A married one, yes, but still a guy. These types of men have the potential to become sexual offenders, but not always. The ones who have either money, power, populatrity or even all of the above have a higher chance of evolving into sexual offenders._

_Now, on to Ichigo and a budding problem. He has now caught the eye of Hana Inuzuka, a girl who knows what she wants and strikes me as tenacious when pursuing what she desires. Not so sure that Anko will take this interloper very well. This might lead to a nasty cat/dog fight if Anko finds that someone is trying to horn in on her action. Go Anko! I really get a kick out of her because she reminds me of my crazy aunt with how she acts._

_As stated up top, reviews, reviews. I cannot make bricks without clay. I enjoy reading your thoughts and sometimes I get ideas from them. _


	14. Chapter 14

_Hey y'all! I'm back again for all of my loyal readers! Again, I've been a little busy in life. I'm getting out of the service in 8 months, so I've been looking for a house and a new job. Right now, I'm studying up to get my A & P licsense, or Airframe and Powerplant maintainer licsense, so that I have a better chance at getting a good job. On top of that, I just went out and got my M1 Licsence, so I've been cruising around on my motorcycle._

_Enough of my excuses. Now, we come to the aftermath of Kiba's little stunt, but not all's well yet. Like in life, the bad guys won't give up so easily. Kiba's own mother and sister may have punished him, but he's far from done, and the Hyuuga elder council are up to something, with Hinata as their target. _

_**THE NEXT MORNING - INUZUKA COMPOUND**_

Kiba awoke to find himself in his room with a splitting headache and Akamaru nowhere to be found. He clumsily lifted himself from his bed and walked around the house until he bumped into an older member of the clan. Instead of a respectful greeting, Kiba recieved a vicious snarl from the woman who huffed and turned her back on him before walking off. The same thing happened with one of the guards who was on duty last night walked by him. He scowled at the heir and went on his way.

Thouroghly confused, he made his way to the dining room to find his mother and sister waiting for him, and they did not look very happy to see him.

"Kiba...Sit down. NOW." The Inuzkua Matriarche ordered, her Ki focused squarely on him.

The dog-boy's gut felt like someone packed it with lead as he dragged himself to sit before his obviously angry mother and sister.

"Boy, you are lucky to even be alive right now. If the ANBU or a Hyuuga had caught you last night, they would have killed you outright instead of bringing you before me alive. Now, what do you have to say for yourself?" Tsume asked harshly.

"I just saw something I wanted and I was gonna take it! That Haku chick nearly broke my arm when I asked her out and now that dobe Naruto took Hinata away from me and that Ino chick, too. Why does HE get all the hot chicks and not me? It's all his fault!" He ranted until Hana slugged him across the face.

"So...we're things now, huh?" Hana roared, getting in his face before continuing.

"Has it ever occured to you that mother and I are BOTH women? Besides, these girls want nothing to do with you because you're a sexist jerk!"

Kiba reeled back from the ass chewing that his elder sister was delivering, but it didn't full register.

"Whatever, Hana. You're just jealous that dad always liked me more and took me aside all that time."

Tsume had heard enough about her former husband. He had been caught both sleeping around and sexually assualting young women, having two illegitimate children in the process. He was lecherous in nature and Tsume regretting marrying him, but not her children. He was banished from the clan and later on was killed when he tried to assualt a chuunin team that had the now Snake Mistress Anko Mitarashi on it, the girl herself dealing the killing blow.

"KIBA! Do not talk about that man in front of me! The fact that you are taking after him is bad enough! Should this happen again, banishment from the clan won't be your only problem. You almost started a clan war with the Hyuuga and the Yamanaka that we could never have hoped to win, especially with that tall Jounin backing them up. He could have killed us all at any time if he wanted and he could have killed you. Next time, I'll disown you and let him do it." Tsume told him coldly.

"Wha...But I'm the heir! I supposed to be the Alpha! A woman can't be the Alpha!" He exclaimed and whined.

"Hana will be the Alpha! You forget that I am the Alpha right now and I am a woman!" The matriarche yelled.

Kiba snarled and was about to strike, but was struck from the side by his mother's partner, Kuromaru. The massive black dog had him pinned to the ground, his sharp teeth glinting in the light.

"I'd advise against that, pup. If you were anyone else, I'd have already ripped your throat out. She's the Alpha for a reason, whelp. Do well to remember it." The large dog snarled as he let Kiba back up.

Kiba looked a where Akamaru was sitting with a scowl. "Akamaru! Why didn't you back me up?" He yelled at his canine partner.

The small white dog glared at him while growling and backing away. "What the hell's wrong with you, anyway?" Kiba asked the puppy.

"Akamaru doesn't trust you anymore, runt. Nobody here does after what you tried to do to the Hyuuga girl and that blond girl." Hana answered, Akamaru nestled in her arms and her Haimaru Triplets clustered in front of her protectively.

Kiba was getting angrier by the second until he stormed off. "Nobody ever lets me do or have anything!" He yelled as he ran off.

Tsume buried her face into her hands in exasperation. "That brat...He's taking after Hideo too much. I thought that I got that bastard's teachings out of his head, but I couldn't have been more wrong." She muttered quietly, mourning the shame that Kiba brought on to their clan.

_**ONE MONTH LATER**_

A month had passed by them very quickly. Many things can happen in that span of time, good or bad. For Team 7, it depended on how one looked at it. For Naruto, this new Team 7 was a godsend. He was actually learning something and not getting shoved off to the side for the Uchiha like Kakashi did to him. Sakura wasn't hitting him or yelling at him anymore. She was even asking Sasuke out less and less, until a few days ago, she stopped cold turkey. She was treating him better and as a friend during their training sessions together while she helped him with his control and he helped her withher stamina and chakra capacity.

Inside of her head, a struggle for dominance was occuring. The two versions of her personality were warring for the right to exist. Her fangirl persona was still hopelessly obsessed with Sasuke and wanted Naruto gone, she didn't care how it was done. Inner Sakura or True Sakura, wanted to shed any affection for the Uchiha and wished to be Naruto's friend. She was heartbroken when she learned that Naruto's heart had already been captured by Hinata, but knew that it wasn't her fault. She conceded defeat and vowed to let her have him. After all, Hinata had loved Naruto for years and by far deserved him more. She now just wanted to concentrait on getting stronger, for both her teammates and for herself. To that end, Ichigo was heaven sent for a sensei. He was patient with her and very kind, but harsh when it was nesscessary, like when Sasuke and Naruto would have one of their little spats. I.S truly came to admire the man as he guided her along her path to become a true kunoichi.

Sasuke wasn't having a very good time with this new team without Kakashi holding his hand. Ichigo insisted that they all do the training together as a team, no one person taught more than the other. The last Uchiha was livid at the fact that this man wasn't handing him jutsu like it was candy, like Kakashi did. Ichigo wouldn't even let him use his Sharingan for sparring and on top of that, his unique abilities were unable to be copied by his precious eyes, further enrageing him.

One day during a spar, Sasuke started to use moves out of the Goken style. It was blatantly obvious due to the fact that Ichigo had sparred with Gai before and was famiiliar with the movements and stances. He called Sasuke aside and told him to go ask Gai for permission to use that style before he attempted to use it again. Sasuke grew indignant at the fact that he would have to ask for permission to use such a powerful Taijutsu style and said that Kakashi taught it to him. Ichigo shook his head.

"The Goken style is a dojo governed style that the master of the style, one Maito Gai, should teach you personally. The only other rightful user of Goken in this village is Rock Lee, Gai's apprentice and member of his Genin team. Kakashi stole that style from him and he has already been dealt with." He told the arrogant boy in a commanding tone.

Sasuke attempted to go to the council to get what he wanted, but the civilian council held no sway over the shinobi and the Shinobi council told him the exact same thing Ichigo did, that the only people who could use that style were anyone that Gai personally approved of and trained. Enraged, he attempted to go and make Gai teach him the style. Gai only stared at him and laughed in his face.

"If you can defeat my disciple, then I will consider it." He told Sasuke, who readily agreed, thinking that his Sharingan could give him the win. His opponent was Rock Lee, the previous year's dead last.

When the fight started, any delusions of Lee being dead last were ruthlessly shattered as the strange looking boy tossed him around like a rag doll. He had his Sharingan active the entire time, boy Lee proved to be far too fast for his eyes to track. The end result of the match was a cheering Lee and a beaten Sasuke who skulked back to his clan's compound to brood.

Haku had her skills appraisal and placement test. She had to face one of each rank to determine her placement among the Konoha ninja. She was finally defeated by an ANBU, code named Neko, but she had a rough time of it. Haku started out the match with a barrage of normal senbon that were laced with a paralysis poison, one of them grazing Neko and partially shutting down her left arm. Neko shot back with a low powered Hosenka, peppering Haku with fireballs, but she gracefully danced her way through them and got instide her defenses, showcasing her speed and agility. However, this display cost her, as Neko wasted no time in putting her through her paces. The sesoned ANBU continuously rained down blow after blow until she was finally worn down, ending the match by holding a kunai to her throat.

As part of her assessment, the panel of judges graded her on her tactics, jutsu usage, and physical abilities. Overall, they decided that she earned the rank of Tokubetsu Jounin, due to the fact that she also had training as a medic. As part of her new duties, she pulled rounds at the hospital when not out on missions and was rated as a combat medic, much like Tsunade of the Sannin was in her prime, as well as one of the only combat medics in Konoha as a whole.

Things with the Hyuuga's were going well at first, until the elder council found out about Hinata's relationship with Naruto. They believed that Naruto would sully their reputations and bring them down and out of the status quo, so he had to go. Their argument was that he was the dobe of his year, as well as the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and a worthless orphan. Hinata and Hiashi agrued back that Naruto was far from worthless in the fact that the Sandaime sees him as a grandson and that he was the hero of Wave country, not to mention the fact that Hinata's meteoric rise in skill and confidence can be credited to Naruto.

Their agruement fell on deaf ears as the elder council came to a descion. They proposed that Hinata become engaged to another clan heir at strengthen relations in the village and have Hanabi become the heiress. Their choices were either the Inuzkua or the Uchiha, both of which Hinata detested and despised with a passion. As they came to a vote, two to the elders have a miraculous change of heart. They thought long and hard about Naruto and the positive effect that he had on Hinata.

_'Would it really be so bad to see her excel and be happy? The boy has close relations to the Hokage himself and with what I've been hearing about his recent and distrubingly fast rise in skill and strength, becoming a future Hokage will not be beyond him, especially if what I've been hearing about his sensei is true.'_Hiromi Hyuuga, Hinata's grandmother thought as she voted against the measure to wed her to either party.

The rest of the elders resisted her vote and urged her to reconsider, but the old woman held firm. "I refuse to let this foolishness to befall my granddaughter. In recent times, she has shown much promise and drive, already proving herself to be Neji's equal in sparring. Naruto Uzumaki and his sensei, one Ichigo Suzumiya, are the ones who unlocked her potential and helped her find her strength. Taking them away from her would be disasterous, not only to her but to ourselves as well."

Another elder, Hito, shot her a curious glance. "Why would this impact us as well?" He asked her, to which the old woman smirked.

"His looks, for one. He bears a striking resemblance to the Yondaime, young Naruto as well. His abilities are mysterious, but I have eye witness reports from a recent mission to Wave Country, where he was granted ANBU status, that these abilities as extremely powerful and elemental in nature. It was reported that he was using Suiton and Fuuton jutsu without handseals, just bending the air and water around him to his will. Another point is his ability to teach, if Naruto Uzumaki's unbelieveable progress is any indication. Their strong resemblance to each other suggests that they may be related and if we allow Hinata to continue with her relationship with young Naruto, we will gain a powerful ally, one that is immune to the effects of the Sharingan." Hiromi stated to the council.

Hito, and a few other elders began to talk amongst themselves about what they just heard. After a few moments, they reached a decision. "We of the Elder Council have reached a decision. We shall test this Ichigo Suzumiya and Naruto Uzumaki by trial of combat. Young Naruto will face Sasuke Uchiha then Kiba Inuzuka, while Ichigo will face two Jounin of our choosing. We shall inform the Hokage of this decision, as well as all parties concerned. The bout shall take place in one months time to give the fighters a chance to train and prepare." The elders decreed.

Hiromi was disgusted by the way they were playing with her grandchild's future and dragging outsiders into their squabbles. Hinata was willing to place her faith in Naruto and Ichigo, as they had earned every bit of the trust placed in them. Hiashi could only pray that Naruto could win against such odds, for his daughter's sake. Neji wasn't too happy with how things were going. He heard about Kiba's attempted rape and was only a breath away from killing the dog nin himself.

Over the course of a week, all parties had been informed of the trial and the engagements. Kiba was chomping at the bit to have Hinata under his thumb and in his bed, and Sasuke was licking his chops at their sizeable fortune and prestige, along with their secret techniques. When Naruto and Ichigo heard of this, they were enraged at the fact that the council would do this to them when they had found happiness. The Hokage wasn't too happy with it, either. Anko was upset that they were forcing Ichigo to fight their battles, but when he agreed to fight on the girl's behalf, she relented.

"I hope you know what you're doing. The Hyuuga's aren't ones to play fair when they see something they want. Be careful." She told him with concern.

"I will, Anko-chan. I promise." Ichigo replied while holding her tightly.

_'Guren, it's time for me to repay a bit of my debt to you. I hope you're watching.'_ He thought.

Sarutobi had sent word to his old student and Naruto's Godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin, about what was happening to the boy. The missive that was sent told him that he would recieve a complete debrief upon arrival. The next day, Jiraiya arrived in the village and proceeded straight to the Hokage's office, where Sarutobi was waiting. He had gotten permission from Ichigo himself to reveal his secret to him, and reveal he did. When the old man was finished, the Toad Sage was stunned into silence.

_'He's Minato's...and Kushina's ancestor. This is impossible...but it happened and I can't deny the results.'_ He thought in wonder.

"Jiraiya. I would like you to hang around for a while this time. If you recall Minato's students, you know who Naruto's original sensei was." Sarutobi told him as he told him about how Kakashi screwed up Naruto's training and favored the Uchiha.

"Minato would be so ashamed of him. Minato taught his student all equally and fairly, but Kakashi was a fool who just didn't get it. He never really desired to work with a team, but run it and call the shots. That was the problem with these so called prodigies, they think that they are above the rules half the time or they get so single minded that they screw up everything they touch. That Obito kid's noble gift only served to inflate his ego and drove away his other teammate, Rin. That girl had a good head on her shoulders. It's a pity that she left with Tsunade and Shizune. She could have looked after Naruto for us. I guess I could try to track them down with my toads and tell them about Naruto." He told his old sensei, but he was pensive about the idea.

Jiraiya noticed the look and sighed. "Sensei, she deserves to know that her godson lives and will need her help." He added.

Sarutobi relented. He scribbled down a quick note. "Fine. I will send out ANBU and Oinin to search for her and deliver this message to her. I can only hope that she will want to return." He hoped.

After a quick search, the Hyuuga chose their two Jounin. One was Kakashi Hatake. The other was a Hyuuga, touted as the finest warrior they had next to Hiashi, Koseki Hyuuga. Kakashi took the opportunity to take Sasuke as a temporary student, which the council allowed. Kakashi took full advantage of it and he let Sasuke copy almost every jutsu he knew with his new Sharingan. Soon, he began to teach him lethal techniques, such as his Chidori, a weaker, but still deadly, version of his personal Raikiri.

Due to that, Team 7 was officially broken up for the time being. Sakura was confused that her two teammates, sensei and ex-sensei were for all intents and purposes, going to war for the fate of Hinata. A small part of her wanted Ichigo and Naruto to lose so that Naruto will be freed up again, but I.S. was adamant about giving her full support to them and wished them luck. Ichigo continued to train both Sakura and Naruto equally, but rode them a little harder with their Taijutsu.

"Naruto, be careful out there. I won't have my nicer teammate out of commission and have to deal with that ass Sasuke on my own." Sakura told him.

The other sensei, especially Kurenai, rallied to make a contribution to Naruto. Asuma had taught Naruto a couple more high ranked Fuuton jutsu and Gai taught him how to combat the Sharingan without getting copied. Kurenai taught him chakra control, but couldn't teach him any of her Genjutsu, due to him not having that kind of control, but she gave the boy and sensei her blessings. Anko taught him more kunai, and another Suiton jutsu and a defensive Doton jutsu. Ichigo already had a massive Ace in the Hole with his elemental powers, but learned from Gai how to fight Kakashi's Sharingan. The secret was to flood the area with chakra, so that the eye won't know where to look. Only people with massive reserves could even possibly pull this off, meaning it was perfect for them. Hiashi could not help them in any way, but wished them the best of luck.

Jiraiya found the two at their combined apartment, but Haku answered the door. The old pervert slammed right into eechi mode upon seeing the ice maiden. "Well, hello there pretty young lady!" He greeted enthusiastically.

"Um, who exactly are you, sir?" She asked him politely as always.

Jiraiya got into kabuki pose. "I am so glad you asked that question! I am feared by my enemies and loved by the ladies! I am known as the holy sage of Mt. Myoboku! My name can hush a crying child and give the ladies a thrill! I am known as Lord Jiraiya!" The wierdo proclaimed as he finished up his kabuki dance, flashing what he believed was a deboinair smile that only wierded Haku out instead.

A voice from behind her called out. "Hey Haku-chan! Who's at the door?"

"I don't really know. He calls himself Jiraiya and he said he's looking for you and Naru-chan." She replied.

Ichigo stepped up to the doorway. "I'm Ichigo Suzumiya. What can we do for you?" He asked.

Jiraiya told him simply that Sarutobi told him the truth and who he was to Naruto, making their eyes go wide.

"Where were you all this time? He needed you and you were off galavanting about!" Haku scolded the white haired sage, who wilted slightly under her glare and upbraiding.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm here now, aren't I? Now, where is the little scamp?" Jirayra asked.

"He's taking a slight nap from training this afternoon. I assume the old man told you about the situation with the Hyuuga." Ichigo replied.

"Yes. That and about that bastard Kakashi." Jiraiya growled.

Ichigo and Haku both shared his scowl at the mention of the copy nin. "Don't tell Naruto about me. I'll do that myself when the time is right. Although, you should tell him about what you are to him. He needs us, especially now."

"I couldn't agree more. I'll come back when the scamp is up and about. Ja ne." He told them as he left the area.

The next day, Jiraiya came to see Naruto during one of the teams training sessions and introduced himself as his godfather, giving him and Sakura the shock of their lives. Sakura couldn't believe that someone so important and famous was her teammate's godparent, with Tsunade of the Sannin being his godmother.

"Naruto, my boy, I've come to teach you about something that can help you..." He announced as he pulled out a scroll from his pouch.

"I can teach you about seal! Fuuinjutsu, which I am a master of, as well as the teacher of the Yondaime!" He told the already shellshocked Genin. He even allowed Sakura to be included on the seal training, who took it very gratefully. They didn't have much time for anything major, so he showed them a seal that would make fighting the Sharingan much easier. It was a special seal that interfered with the copying function of the Sharingan and made it comlpetely useless in combat, taking away a major advantage. All Naruto and Ichigo would have to do is wear the seal on their persons the day of the match and then they would be rendered immune from the Doujutsu of Thieves. Sakura proved to be a quick study and mastered the seal in a few days, with Ichigo and Naruto following behind her. However, intheir spare time, the two students of Team 7 studied up and experimented with seals on their own, from making simple smoke tags, to stink bombs and personal storage seals.

Naruto and Sakura put their head together, as part of a team exercise, to make a special seal tag that would combine a flashbang with a stink bomb. After much trial and error and accidentally stinking up both her basement and Naruto's apartment complex, they finally succeeded.

"This new tag you can use to both blind Sasuke AND disrupt Kiba's sense of smell! Just wrap it around the handle of a kunai like a normal tag and use it like you would an explosive tag!" Sakura told him merrily. She was really getting into the whole fuuinjutsu thing. It was like a giant puzzle for her and it appealed to her analytical mind now that the 'Sasuke craze', as Ichigo and Haku put it, was dead and buried. Her and Naruto worked together like a team and became good friends over the course of the month. Hinata came to forgive her for her past trangressions against Naruto and also befriended her.

_**CHUUNIN EXAM STADIUM**_

The day of the duel had arrived more quickly than they would have desired. Almost half of the village, the Shinobi council and the Civilian council had all filled the Chuunin Exam Stadium to see this grand battle. The rest of Naruto and Hinata's classmates had come to give him their support, their parents telling them what was happening. Chouji and Shikamaru were upset by it, Shino looked indifferent but it bothered him, and Ino was cheering her head off for Naruto and Ichigo. Sakura's parents had come out to give their support, Haku sitting with them and the Ichiraku's as well. They sincerely hoped that the boys would win for Hinata's sake.

Down in the tunnel leading out to the stadium, Sakura and Jiraiya had just finished applying the Anti-Sharingan seals to the two fighters and gave them a final pep talk. "I know you guys can do this. I've got faith in you. Naruto, sensei, good luck." She told the pair, giving them each a friendly hug as she rushed up into the stands.

"Well brats, I've given you the tools. Show me what you can do with them. Make me proud." He told them, flashing them a cheesy grin and a thumbs up before flickering away to the VIP box, where the Hokage and the Councils were sitting.

Naruto and Ichigo gave each other a nod, signaling each other that they were ready. With that signal, he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and teleported them into the center of the stadium arena, where their opponents were waiting for them.

Sarutobi cleared his throat and got the attention of the whole arena. "Welcome, one and all, to the bout that will decide the fate of one Hinata Hyuuga. In this corner, fighting one Hinata's behalf, we have Ichigo Suzumiya and Naruto Uzumaki!" He announced, to which the reception was varied. Amongst the shinobi council and from their friends, they recieved a standing ovation, but form the majority of the civilians, they were cursed and booed.

"And in this corner, we have Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka, both fighting for Hinata's hand in marriage, with Koseki Hyuuga and Kakashi Hatake taking on Ichigo Suzmiya to determine his worthiness to the Hyuuga clan as an ally. First, we shall have our younger combatants fight. Everybody else, clear the arena so we can start."

Ichigo put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You ready?"

"Born ready." Naruto replied, his game face set in place.

"Do it up, kiddo." He told Naruto confidently as he lept out of the arena.

"Hey dobe, I'll take REAL good care of your woman for you after I humilate you." Kiba sneered at the blond.

"Ready to lose, loser? You could never beat me, and now that I have my Sharingan, I'll make you into just a memory." Sasuke added.

Naruto didn't waver or even flinch from their gazes. "Kiba, I'll make you pay for what you tried to do to my Hime. If you ever come near her again, I'll kill you." He growled at Kiba, using a slight bit of Saki's chakra to make his eyes flash crimson for a moment. Then, he looked up to where Hinata was and mouthed out, _"I love you."_ to her, making her smile.

_**"READY...FIGHT!"**_ The Hokage announced from his seat as the fight got under way.

Sasuke and Kiba both lept in at the same time to try and overwhelm Naruto, attempting to take him down quickly, but he was expecting them to do something like that. The second before their strikes hit home, he made a small leap into the air, grabbed them both by the collars of their clothes, and flung them back to where they were with a throw as he completed his flip, causing them to land in a heap.

"Grrr... Fight like a man, Dobe!" Kiba snarled as he lept in again, claws extended to finish the job in a single stroke. Kiba was fast, but not fast enough to avoid a counter from the shorter blond. Naruto caught the blow at the wrist as it came in and used Kiba's own momentum to completely dislocate his shoulder with a a forearm blow. Not waiting to admire his handiwork, he immeadiately followed up with a barrage of kicks and punches from Muay Thai take him out of the fight and keep him there, his finishing move being a straight knee thrust to Kiba's face.

_'Nice! I didn't even hae to use the stink bombs and flashbangs yet! Good old gullible and hot headed Kiba!'_

The entire time, Sasuke hung back was observing him with his Sharingan to copy how he fought, but something was interfereing with his eyes. The more he tried, the more his eyes hurt and drained his chakra. By the time he finally shut them off, Naruto had already finished off Kiba and turned his attention to him. _'Dammit! What the hell is happening to my Sharingan? Why wouldn't it copy his moves?'_ He thought furiously, going through handseals for a fire jutsu.

_**KATON : KARYUU ENDAN!**_

As soon as Sasuke released the jutsu, Naruto was ready for him with a Suiton Jutsu of his own.

_**SUITON : SUIJINHEKI!**_

The massive gout of fire met with the watery shield in an explosion of steam, obscuring the arena floor from view. A few tense moments passed before Naruto's voice rang out.

_**FUUTON : DAITOPPA!**_

With that jutsu, the steam was cleared away and Sasuke was pushed back towards the wall, giving Naruto some breathing room. Sasuke once again tried to use his Sharingan, but he was met with more pain and frustration when it didn't work. "DOBE! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY EYES?" The avenger wannabe screamed in rage.

"Simple. A good friend of mine is a whiz with seals, and she helped me with a seal that would prevent you from copying my moves. Cool, huh?" He replied with a wide smile in Sakura's direction.

Sakura blushed slightly, but returned the smile. She was glad to help and thought of it as a sort of pennance for all the horrible things she did and said to him over the years. After she shed her crush on Sasuke, she began to see and think differently, more clearly and was a lot nicer to people. Team placement day was her first real wake up call, then the test Kakashi put them through opened her eyes a little more. With the advent of the Wave mission and the subsequent days following their return to Konoha, all she needed was one final push in the right direction.

Back to the fight, Sasuke decided to forget about his Sharingan and go for his newest and most powerful jutsu, the Chidori. After a moment of concentration, the lightning chakra encased his hand as he leveled an insane gaze at his opponent.

"THAT'S IT! I'LL KILL YOU!" He shrieked in rage as he threw himself at Naruto. He expected Naruto's Taijutsu skills to still be below par, but as always, the tricky blond had yet another nasty surprize in store for his overconfident opponent.

Naruto slipped back into his Muay Thai stance and waited until Sasuke thrusted his lightning encased hand at him. The brooder's attack sailed wide and sloppy due to his anger, allowing Naruto to deflect it to the outside and chamber a front kick that hit him square in the ribs, cracking at least two of them and threw him onto his back, dispelling the lethal jutsu . Naruto wasted no words in following up on his assualt, catching his opponent with a soild forearm shot to his jaw, disorienting him, then following that up with a bone jarring right hook that Naruto threw his entire body into for added power, which completely broke Sasuke's jaw and knocked him unconscious.

The old Hokage's heart flowed with pride as he stood. _**"THE WINNER...NARUTO UZUMAKI!"**_

Upon seeing Sasuke go down, the spectators were going crazy. All of those who supported Naruto cheered wildly, especially Ino, Sakura, Hinata, the Ichiraku's and the Haruno's.

"Atta boy Naruto! That's how it's done!" Takeo Haruno yelled with pride.

"I knew you could do it! That's our Otouto-kun!" Ayame and Haku cheered.

A tired Naruto lept back into the stands to where his friends were waiting for him and they mobbed him with hugs, handshakes, and pats on the back. Teuchi even brought an extra large bowl of his special ramen for him, letting him get his energy back after a rough fight.

Jiraiya and Sarutobi watched the fight with keen interest and pride. _'I heard that he would sling Shadow Clones around and spam the area with them in a fight, but against to tough opponents, he didn't even use one. That Ichigo turned him into a fighting machine that can also use his head. He's his father's son, alright, with Kushina mixed in there.'_

Kakashi was trembling with anger. He poured so much effort into the prodigy, but he was still defeated by the dead last, and quite easily. Naruto used no overwhelming power, no tremendous and spectacular jutsu to do it. He just used some clever moves and some quick thinking to do the job. Now, he had to face the man who in a short span of time, trained Naruto to this effective. After what he saw on the bridge in Wave, his Sharingan wouldn't help him against sealless jutsu. If he angered Ichigo now, the tall blond would tear him apart.

The Hyuuga council was in an uproar over the results of the match, stating that Naruto cheated to gain victory. However, Sarutobi reminded them that the use of seals was just another shinobi tool and Naruto effectively utilized this resource, as a proper ninja should. Elder Hiromi just grinned knowingly. She had faith in the boy from the beginning and it was paying off

Tsume and Hana walked over to where Naruto was resting. He was on edge, since this was Kiba's mother and older sister and they might want revenge for what he did to him, but they instead apologized for what Kiba had done to Hinata.

"Kiba had no right to do what he did or attempting to force a union between the Hyuuga girl and himself. Please know that I had nothing to do with this. From what I've seen, kiddo, you've got the makings of a great Alpha in you. I'll personally give to you my clan's support should you need it. After all, I think I may be talking with a future Hokage!" Tsume admitted with a barking laugh while thumping him on his back.

Hiashi was deeply impressed with how Naruto was willing to fight for his daughter and that he defeated two of the strongest heirs in the village to do so. _'Naruto, my boy, you have by far earned the right to not only court, but marry Hinata in the future. All I ask is that you take care of her.'_

After ten minutes had passed and the two unconscious Genin were removed from the arena, Sarutobi stood up from his seat. _**"Now, will the next combatants please enter the arena and we will get started."**_ Sarutobi announced loudly.

Just as Kakashi and Koseki lept down into the arena for the fight, Ichigo appeared in his trademark fashion, a mini-cyclone of water, looking like he was ready for war. He had on the standard Jounin vest, but had his arms bare save for his forearms, which were equipped with Tekkou, or forearm bracers. He also wore greaves similar to what Anko wore. On each arm was a tattoo, one bore the ABNU brand to signify that he was once ANBU, and the other bore a roman numeral of the number 15, which made him look even more intimidating.

Koseki had been informed of some of Ichigo's abilities and while he was impressed, he believed that he relied on his powers too much and failed to notice the blade strapped to his back, poking out just over his shoulder. "Hmph. So, this is my opponent? I'll be done with you quick, as I've better things to do with my day than play with the likes of you." He sniffed, falling into the Jyuuken stance.

Ichigo looked on impassively, until he looked up into the stands at Anko and Hinata and smiled softly, nodding to them. He then leveled Koseki with a monsterous Ki that nearly made him lose control of his bladder, and his grin turned feral, almost evil. Kakashi steeled himself to avenge his embarrassment, his anger building again.

_'Sasuke may have lost to this rabble, but I'll show everyone who is superior and that the Hokage made a mistake firing me as a sensei.'_ The copy-nin thought as he readied himself for combat.

Naruto and Sakura looked down into the battleground-to-be, down at the man who truly taught them. _'You can do it, sensei. We believe in you.'_ They thought as one.

Sarutobi looked at the fighters and determined that they were ready. _**"READY...FIGHT!"**_ He bellowed at the top of his lungs as the fight go underway.

Koseki wasted no time in closing in on his opponent, aiming for a quick victory with a blow to the heart before he could pull off anything nasty. Ichigo proved to be no slouch, as he sidestepped the first blow, just to have Kakashi jump into the fray, using a familiar fighting style.

"Muay Thai? You bastard...You were spying on our training, weren't you? You stole our fighting style, just like you did to Gai. You theiving bastard..." Ichigo snarled angrily as he dodged and blocked the rapid fire attacks that both of his opponents were dishing out.

That statement made many of the shinobi in the crowd scowl in distatse for Kakashi's actions. He had, theoretically, been stealing their hard work for years, and them being none the wiser. Gai was especially displeased with this. His Goken style was passed down through the Maito family for generations, but since Gai had no children of his own and being an only child, he was passing on the legacy to Lee, who would pass the style down through his lineage or of his choosing. It was not meant to be stolen by theives like many of the Sharingan wielders had proven themselves to be.

"SHOW HIM THE POWER OF YOUTH, ICHIGO-SAN! SHOW HIM THAT HIS EYE ACCOUNTS FOR NOTHING IN THE FACE OF PURE HEART!" Gai bellowed at the to of his lungs.

Many were wierded out by the delivery of the encouragement, but Ichigo got the meaning behind it. He quickly summoned up some wind to knock Koseki away from him and created a Kage Bunshin. "I'll deal with you in a minute, so entertain yourself for a bit."

He then turned his full attention back to Kakashi. "Go ahead. Pull it out, or you'll never beat me. The most you'll do is bore me to death!" Ichigo taunted, goading him into attempting to use his Sharingan.

"Remember this when you get to hell, you asked for this." Kakashi growled as he revealed his Sharigan eye, only for him to clutch it in pain.

"AAAAHHHHHGGGGGAAAA!" He wailed in pain until he covered it back up. He panted for a few seconds before he got up the energy to speak.

"Wh-what did you do to me?" He cried out.

Ichigo gave him a mirthless and cold chuckle in response. "You see, if you had bothered to pay attention to little cock puppet's fight before, you'd know that we, Naruto, Sakura and I with the help of a VERY skilled benefactor, created an Anti-Sharingan seal. Whenever you attempt to use your precious eye, the seal makes it short out, causing pain as well as negating it's copying and reading abilities. Now, you are just Kakashi Hatake, a sad excuse for a sensei, a pathetic worm who blamed an innocent boy for something he had not choice in." He snarled in anger.

Suddenly, he felt his clone get destroyed and Koseki bearing down on him. Acting quickly, he delievered a punishing, rising roundhouse kick to Koseki's chin, playing him come chin music if you will. The blow knocked out a tooth and sent him spiraling into the air in a high arc, landing a dozen yards away. Even during all of that, he never took his eyes off of Kakashi for even a split second.

"What would you know?" Kakahsi demanded angrily.

"That little brat took my sensei and Rin away from me! He killed them that night! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! YOUR POWER HAS NOTHING ON ME!" He cried as he began to charge up a Raikiri.

Ichigo noticed what he was doing and sought to nip that problem right in the bud. In a flash, he was on top of Kakashi and sent him flying away with a strong kick to his ribs.

"I don't think so, Kakashi. If you want to see power, I'll grant you that request!" Ichigo roared as he gathered all of the water and wind around him and focused them into a tight orb in each hand. The crowd was shell-shocked, as well as the elder council. They were alive when the Niidaime was around, and not even he could gather water that quickly and exert so much force. He then aimed an orb a piece at Koseki, who was standing up and Kakashi, who was cowering in fear.

**"BREAK**." Was all he said as the two orbs broke into countless pellets and began to pelt his two opponents without mercy. Koseki threw up a Kaiten and Kakashi used the Doryuuheki, but their defenses were rapidly blasted apart, taking the full brunt of the onslaught that the tall blond unleashed upon them.

After the hailstorm of elemental projectiles was over, he stood tall. _'There. A small portion of my debt is repaid to you, Guren. I swear that I will work off the rest, even if it takes me multiple lifetimes. Same to you, Futaba-chan.'_ He thought as he looked to the sky with a slight grin.

The audience was still stunned from what just happened. The imfamous Kakashi and one of the Hyuuga's finest warriors were defeated easily and said powerful shinobi looked like they were fed through a blender, cuts and gashes all over.

Sarutobi smiled widely as he stood up. **_"THE WINNER...ICHIGO SUZUMIYA!"_**

That announcement seemed to break the silence over the audience, with roaring appluase coming from the shinobi and some of the civilians. Hiromi Hyuuga was clapping heartily for the young man who proved her to be correct in her choices. She stood before her fellow elders with a smirk.

"So, what do you have to say now?" She asked them to which the old woman recieved dumbfounded nods.

"I thought so. All of this foolishness about marrying of my granddaughter to someone not of her choosing is over and done with as of now. She has made her choice and we have gained a very powerful ally, as you just saw." She told the other elders with finality.

The Haruno's were speechless. They had never seen anyone display such raw power, but so tightly controlled. Their first instinct was to fear him as a monster, but they knew what he was really like, a very sweet and considerate young man who was also their daughter's sensei. Sanae actaully felt a sort of paternal pride for him swell within her.

"That's my boy." She whispered to herself.

Anko rushed down into the arena and threw her arms around him, proud of what her boyfriend had accomplished. She followed it up with a very deep kiss, which he returned with equal intensity as he swung her around once before putting her down and breaking the kiss.

"I knew you could do it. Only my man could have pulled this off!" She cheered until Sakura and Naruto joined them, with the rest of their friends following then down there.

Haku and Kurenai used a Shunshin to get the non-shinobi down to the arena, where a mini-celebration was going on. The Ice Maiden rushed up and tightly embrace the man who became her foster father and had saved her from the macinations of the council. She was deeply proud of him and let every one know it. Hinata looked to her father for permission to join them and he nodded. With his blessing, she vaulted down from the VIP seats and snagged her boyfriend, much like Anko did moments again.

The celebrating crowd was directed to the Akimichi's BBQ restaurant, where Chouza himself wanted to throw a small party to congradulate the two fighters on their rightful victories.

Back in the stands, the civilian council still sat, stewing in anger over what happened. "Let's go. We still have other plans to make that brat suffer." A rotund man growled as they all filed out of the stadium.

_A/N: And cut! Print! Chapter 14 down and ready! Here, the blond duo had to fight to keep Hinata in Naruto's arms where they both felt she belonged. Naruto didn't need anything flashy to win, just some smarts and good moves. Ichigo was heading down that path, but decided that some Shock and Awe treatment was in order to get a message across to the ignorant, that anyone who messed with his nakama would have to deal with him first, and there would be hell to pay. The Arashi no Kami has risen!_


	15. New Teammates, New Rivals

_Hey y'all! Next chapter is now up and running! Sorry this took so long to get out, but I had a lot of things to deal with as of late. I'm still in the middle of searching for a job for when I get out of the Military and devoting a lot of time to beefing up my eval's so that I have less trouble getting what I need from people. _

_Alright, gettin' down to functions. Now we see some of the aftermath form the little match that our two blonds had with their 'rivals'. Also, I brought in a few charachters that may seem familiar to you DOA fans. I think they'll be right at home here._

_**ONE WEEK AFTER THE DUEL**_

_**TRAINING GROUND #7**_

The massive upset win that Ichigo and Naruto pulled off had the civilians, council and all save for their friends, in a massive up roar. They claimed that using the Anti-Sharingan seals was cheating and demanded the victory handed over to Sasuke and Kakashi. Sarutobi, however, was not amused by their behavior and quickly quelled their arguments by reminding them that the match was a shinobi affair and the fact that Fuuinjutsu was a lesser practiced shinobi art, much like Iijutsu, or healing arts, but very effective in capable hands. The fact that Jiraiya of the Sannin decided to collaborate on the creation of the seal was irrelevant. As a Sannin, he had the right to train whomever he wanted, a fact that he threw in the face of the Sandaime's two teammates when they demanded that he take Sasuke as his student and that he let the Uchiha sign the Toad Contract.

To humor the two insufferable elders, Jiraiya summoned the Boss of the Toads, the mighty Gamabunta, to judge Sasuke's worthiness as a summoner as was his right. Bunta stared right into Sasuke's eyes, peering into his very being. Suddenly, Bunta jerked away with a scowl on his face.

_**"Why you little brat! How dare you try to cast a Genjutsu on me? I should crush you where you stand, you little parasite!"**_The massive toad roared in anger, but Sasuke stood haughtily through it all.

"You will do as I say! Don't you know who I am? I am an Uchiha and you are only a mere servant!" The arrogant boy screamed, much like that of a spoiled child being told what they could not have or do.

That comment saw Jiraiya's hand around his throat. "Summons are not slaves, you ignorant boy. They have a will of their own and if you betray them, they will kill you without a second thought. Bunta here went toe-to-toe with the Kyuubi, so there's no chance that you could possibly force him to serve you. Now, leave my sight and don't come back." The white haired Sannin growled as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke with Gamabunta doing the same.

Next, Sasuke was pulled off of Team 7 under the pretenses of not getting the treatment and training that he deserved and was given over to Kakashi Hatake for what they deemed a 'proper' education. Ichigo merely shrugged when the two elders and Danzo came to take Sasuke from him. They threatened to take away his rank, persecute Anko, and punish his team if he resisted, but those empty threats only made him laugh.

"First of all, I have been training everyone equally and fairly, no one student is above the rest in a team. You should know better than that. Another thing, don't you EVER threaten Anko or my students when you know damn well that they haven't done anything wrong."

Sakura and Naruto backed him up with their own testimonies. "Ichigo-sensei has been very fair to us in the short time that he's been our sensei! He's treated us all equally and fairly! Kakashi never taught Naruto or myself anything, but Ichigo-sensei would always answer our questions and be honest with us and make time for us. He also shows up on time, unlike _Hatake_." Sakura related to them, spitting out Kakashi's name like a vile poison.

Danzo took it as an insult because it was his idea to have Kakashi as Team 7's sensei from the start and lashed out at the girl with his cane, only for it to be stopped by an angry blond sensei, who wrenched the cane from his hand and snapped it in two like a pencil.

"You've done enough for one day, don't you think? You have what you want, now LEAVE. I will not repeat myself. If you ever raise a hand to my students again, I'll remove the offending hand." He told them in a murderously calm voice that was backed by the most horrifying Ki that the three of them had ever felt in their lives, except for the Kyuubi. With their tails tucked firmly between their legs, they fled that area quickly without looking back.

_**HOKAGE'S OFFICE**_

Ichigo sighed at the fact that they would need a third teammate to take the Chuunin Exams, so he and the team went to go speak with the Hokage about what to do. Upon being waved into the Hokage's office, they saw that Team 8, minus Kiba, was also there, waiting for something.

"Hey there, Hime." Naruto greeted Hinata with a hug.

"Hello, Naru-kun." She replied, returning the embrace and seperating with a kiss on the cheek. The two showed their emotions so freely and openly nowadays with Hinata's confidence at an all time high. She no longer stuttered and no longer second guessed herself. Kurenai was pleased with the changes in the girl, but even more pleased that her more endearing traits hadn't changed a bit.

Sakura asked her why Kiba wasn't there and that brought a smirk to Team 8's faces. "Sakura-san, Kiba's tenure with Team 8 came to an abrupt end after the duel. His mother felt that Kiba had done enough harm, as well as proving that he wasn't worthy of being a shinobi yet, so she had him sent back to the Academy to repeat the entire process over again. We'll be about eighteen before he has the opportunity to graduate again and by then, we'll all be at least Chuunin if not Jounin." Hinata told them while smiling widely.

Shino stepped in to explain the rest. "We are here to meet our new teammate. Since we cannot take the Chuunin Exams without a full team, a genin from the previous year will fill Inuzuka's slot on our team. We heard that she was on a Genin team that was decommissioned due a teammate and the sensei having a breakdown." He told them.

"Wow. That's what we were here to ask about since the Emo Prince will be under Kakashi-teme. We need a third teammate, too." Naruto mentioned.

"Ah, that's good then! The other member of the now defunct Team 13 needed a team, too." Sarutobi mentioned with the press of his office intercom button.

"Ayumi-san, could you send in the Tenshin sisters, please?" He asked. After his secretary confirmed, the office door opened to reveal a pair of kunoichi around their age. The first one had long chestnut colored hair done up in a ponytail with soft brown eyes, a white gi with black bike shorts and the standard shinobi sandals. The second had powder blue hair in a bob cut with scarlet eyes, and was wearing a sort of deep blue dress with hot pants underneath, thigh highs and the shinobi sandals. Both had their headbands around their necks like Hinata did.

As soon as Hinata saw them, palm met face, which puzzled everyone. "Do you know them, Hinata?" Shino whispered.

"Yeah...You can say that. The Tenshin clan has been close rivals of my clan since anyone can remember. I've known those two since I was a little girl and the non-stop challenges have really gotten on my nerves. They're both the clan princesses from what I know. As if that 'Ryu-sama' of theirs bad wasn't enough..." Hinata muttered in exasperation.

"Ryu-sama? Who the hell is that?" Sakura asked.

"Ryu Hayabusa. Jounin, close friend of the current head of the Tenshin clan, Hayate Ein Tenshin, and all-around heartthrob supposedly. His legion of fangirls rivals the Uchiha's at it's height and he's petitioned my clan for a bride for some time now. I've met him before, as I was one of the Hyuuga maidens considered for the arrangement before my father shot the whole thing down, but he's got next to no personality and makes Shino look as talkative as Ino is. They say that he's the best shinobi in the village, but I think Ichigo-sensei has him beat hands down." The Hyuuga girl explained. The cool, silent, and stoic type never really did anything for her. She preferred her man to have a lot of energy, basically just like the boy she has now, Naruto.

"Hinata-chan, it's been awhile." Ayane commented with a smirk while sauntering up to said girl, who sighed in resignation.

"Hello, Ayane-chan, Kasumi-chan." Hinata greeted while gritting her teeth.

"Ah, Kasumi and Ayane. Good. I would like you to meet your new teammates. Ayane, you will be on Team 7 with Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. Your new sensei will be Ichigo Suzumiya. Kasumi, You will be on Team 8 with Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi." He told the two girls.

"What's up with the orange, and WHO has pink hair, for Kami's sake?" Ayane commented dismissively as she took a look at her kunoichi teammate.

"What's with the huge forehead?" She asked, jerking a thumb in Sakura's direction.

If one looked closely enough, the veins in Sakura'sface, neck, and forehead tripled in size before she attempted to throw herself at the scarlet-eyed girl with the intent to maim and dismember.

"Lemme at her!" Sakura roared as Ichigo caught her by the collar of her dress.

"Easy there, Sakura-chan. Let's try to give this one a chance." He tried to reason with the pink-haired girl.

Hinata was getting really pissed off herself. _'Who does she think she is, calling MY Naruto-kun dead last after what he did to the Uchiha and that jerk Kiba?'_

Kurenai saw the warning signs her student was giving. _'Uh oh...She 's gonna blow! That's one thing she and Anko have in common. Mess with their men in any way and their more than likely to eat you alive.'_

Naruto was getting annoyed with this new girl already, but was slightly worried about the look of death that Hinata was giving said girl. He could tell that even Saki was shaking in her cage from the vibes the pale-eyed girl was radiating.

Kasumi snorted at her sisters antics. "At least TRY to get along with your new team, Shorty."

"Beat it, Miss Goody Two-Shoes! At least your teammates look like they know what their doing! Even the sensei for this team looks like a moron!" Ayane shot back as the two began snarling at each other while trading insults, leaving Ichigo to scowl at his competence being called into question. Down in the T & I rooms, Anko had the sudden urge to strangle a girl with powder blue hair.

"Midget!"

"Amazon!"

"Tomboy!"

"Princess!"

"Hooters girl!"

"Flat chest!"

"Hey! Just because my boobs haven't grown yet..."

Sarutobi rubbed his temples in an attempt to ward off the potential headache while the two half sisters played verbal tug of war until Naruto cleared his throat to get their attention. "Now, I would like for your teams to do some familiarization, so I will have both teams do a D-Rank mission to accomplish just that.

For the rest of that day, the bluenette always tried to get in a barb or two with her new teammates, whose patience was wearing thin. Their job was a simple one, they had to work in a restaurant to fill in for some of the staff that called in sick. They each spread out into their jobs, the girls being waitresses and Naruto being shunted off to the back as a dishwasher due to the owner of the establishment not wanting him there at all. Ichigo was forced to step in and, persuade him to reconsider, thus resulting in the dish washing job. Ayane was watching in wonder while her new sensei handled the situation and with some guilt at how badly her new teammate was treated. She looked over to Sakura to see her patting Naruto's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Hey, what gives? Why did that guy flip out like that over him?" Ayane asked.

Sakura shook her head sadly. "I can't tell you that. Only Naruto or the Sandaime can without getting punished. That's all I can say."

The girl spent some time in thought as she bussed tables. The glares that Naruto attracted had her worried. _'What in the world is going on here? Why is Naruto hated by so many people? What could he have possibly done to deserve that? Do Onii-sama and Onee-sama know about this?'_

Ichigo was watching the new girl with a evaluating gaze, carefully estimating how she would adjust to his only living descendant. The outburst of the man who owned the restaurant nearly blurted out Naruto's secret into the street, but he knew that Ayane would start asking questions soon enough. _'I only hope that when she finds out, she'll take it as well as the others did, otherwise we'll need a new teammate, again.'_

By the time they were done, it was early afternoon and they still had a little time to kill. "Okay, gang! Let's head out to the training fields for a little Taijutsu practice before we break for the day and so we can see what kind of moves Ayane here has." He told them as he had them follow him to their normal training grounds.

The span of a few minutes saw them at their regular training grounds as he turned to address his students.

"Alright now, what the objective is here is to see your overall skills so that we can build up some teamwork around everybody's overall skills. To accomplish both that and develop some teamwork, you will all face me at the same time. Use whatever means you have to to win, but try to work together. Ready?" He warned them, making Sakura and Naruto go pale as he leveled a hand right at them.

"GO!" He shouted, firing a water blast right at them, making them scramble away.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Ayane yelled.

"Sensei's...got a weird ability that let's him use the water and wind around him as him weapons without handseals or even jutsus. I once saw him wipe out over a hundred enemies in one shot using his powers, but against us he holds back a lot to avoid putting us in the hospital. All of our sparring matches end up with us having to dodge like crazy!" Naruto exclaimed as he created a set of Kage Bunshin to distract him.

Ichigo blasted the clones, but Naruto was right behind them and engaged him with Taijutsu, utilizing his Muay Thai training to throw knees and elbows left and right. Ichigo decided to give them a fair shake and engaged them with Taijutsu only. Sakura and Ayane lept into the fray, Ayane using her family's Mugen Tenshin style and Sakura using Ba Gua Zhang, a martial art that Ichigo taught to her recently. She was still trying to work out the kinks in her movements, but for now it was useable in sparring matches. He did tell her that the art seemed to fit her as she soaked up the movements like a sponge.

Now, the three Genin were attempting to put the screws to their sensei, who had seemed to cease his hailstorm of elemental projectiles and hooted with glee when ever he dodged a blow or blew a raspberry at them mockingly.

_'Oh well, at least HE'S having fun...'_ Team 7's newest member thought in passing as the exercise dragged on.

After another hour, their sadistic sensei finally called the spar to an end. "Okay, kiddies! Show's over for the day! Ayane-chan, I was very pleased to see that you could work with your new teammates so effectively and as for Sakura and Naruto, I'm proud to see that you two haven't been slacking in your exercises and showed flexibilty in working with an unknown and untested teammate. If you all keep up this pace, I'll enter you in the Chuunin Exams!" He told them gleefully. In truth, he was already planning on entering them in the Exams, but he wanted to give them some incentive to work harder. While they rested, he sat a talked with his students and answered their questions as best as he could. Ayane was impressed with his teaching style, it being a far cry from her previous sensei's, style which was to yell and stomp whenever something went wrong.

_'In a way, he reminds me of my brother, dependable and true. But he is also very light-hearted and patient. I think I'll like this team.'_

After Ichigo debriefed them, he bid them farewell as he vanished in his trademark manner, leaving the three genin to their own devices. "Well, I'd better get home now. I promised my dad I'd help him out with the inventory tonight. See you tomorrow, Naruto." Sakura told one of her two best friends in the world, giving him a chaste hug as she ran back to the village proper.

This left Naruto and Ayane alone at the training grounds. "Well, I guess I'll head for Ichiraku's before going home. Haku-nee's working late tonight and Sensei's gonna be with Anko-neechan tonight." He called out to no one in particular as he made his way home, whistling a lively tune.

"W-Wait!" Ayane called out to him.

"Eh? What's up?" He asked, his voice carrying a tone of honest curiosity.

"Well, um, mind if I walk with you part of the way?" She asked him.

"Sure! Come on!" He welcomed her as they set off towards the village proper.

Along the way, Ayane had struck up a conversation with him, starting out with what he's been up to and a basic introduction like his likes, dislikes, goals and dreams.

_'So, he wants to become Hokage, huh? We'll see...'_She thought as she told him about herself and her family during their short walk. After a few minutes, their paths split, Naruto headed for Ichiraku's and Ayane for home. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-san." She told him as he returned the favor.

"Okay! See ya! But one thing, just Naruto. Adding 'San' is too formal and stuffy for me. I'm just plain Naruto. See ya, Ayane-chan!" He called out to her as he sped off toward his favorite haunt, Ichiraku Ramen.

Ayane just stood there watching his retreating form, a small smile forming on her lips. "Ayane-chan, huh?" She told herself playfully as she made her way home.

_**TENSHIN CLAN COMPOUND**_

Kasumi's and Ayane's crazy eldest sibling, a woman named Iroha, had seen the match Ichigo was in and was just like her two baby sisters in the fact that when she saw something she wanted, she went out and made it hers, obstacles be damned. The haughty, auburn haired 24 year old woman was highly reserved when it came to the men she considered as prime marriage material, but something about the mysterious Jounin sensei lit her pilot light. She was especially interested in him since she was told by Ayane that he was her new sensei and what his personality was like.

"Yeah, he's kind of an interesting guy. I though that he was a total moron at first, but he's actually really nice. My new teammates and I tried to take him on all at one, but he's just so powerful and fast, that he was only playing with us. I saw him use water and wind jutsu with NO hand seals! It's like he just bent them to his will. It was amazing when without even moving a muscle, he made a tornado roar into existence around himself as a shield."

"What else about him, Aya-chan?" Iroha asked eagerly.

"Well, I don't really know much else about him. I mean, I've only known him for a day." She replied as she got up to got wash up for dinner, leaving Iroha to her thoughts.

"This guy looks more interesting than that ice cube, Ryu. I guess teaching a team of brats will do that to you. He smacked that egotistical pervert Hatake and that Hyuuga around like they owed him money and didn't even strain himself! I want this one." She said to herself. However she also remembered the woman that he locked lips with that day.

"Hmph. That snake tramp can't top me. I've got some of the biggest breasts in the village, save for Tsunade, and I'm one of the hottest and richest. That scrumptious blond will be mine. It's only a matter of time before we hear wedding bells." The auburn haired woman giggled, then laughed almost maniacally as she began to cook up plots and plans to ensnare her target.

Hayate was passing by and sent up a small prayer for whom ever caught his twin sister's eye this time.

"That crazy woman. Now I know where the girls get it from." He muttered as he went along on his way to the dining room.

No one couldn't say that the woman didn't have a streak of madness in her. The woman had plenty of callers over the years, but she turned them all down while waiting for the _'perfect'_guy to come along. Their parents being dead, Ayane and Kasumi had no other elder female around to go off of save for Iroha and they began to pick up on some of her habits.

Hayate put these thoughts aside for the moment as he made his way to the dining hall, where he would ask both of his sisters about their days.

After the small clan had gathered for supper and began eating, Hayate popped the question to his younger siblings.

"So, how did you day go today girls?" he asked them.

"Well, Onii-sama, our old team got disbanded, but Hokage-sama put us on new teams today. I got put on Team 8 while Aya-chan is now on Team 7." Kasumi answered.

"Really? That team has the Uchiha and Hatake." He surmised.

"Who's that? My new sensei is a guy named Ichigo Suzumiya and that Uchiha kid's the one I replaced. My new teammates are Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki." Ayane corrected.

Iroha was tryign to place the names she heard. _'Haruno? Not a clue, but Uzumaki? Where have I heard that name before...'_

Hayate's brow furrowed in thought, because he knew of two individuals on that particular team. One of them was Naruto Uzumaki, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He remembered the night when the Kyuubi attacked the village and killed many people in it's rampage, his parents and most of the Tenshin Clan included. After the destruction died down, the Sandaime came back out of retirement and decreed that Naruto was only the container and jailer of the demon, but the public and to his own shame, himself and his best friend, Ryu Hayabusa, only saw the demon that nearly destroyed their village and killed so many of their loved ones.

Upon hearing of the infant's location from many grumbling and complaining Hospital staff members, he and Ryu slipped into the nursery with kunai in hand, intent on finishing off the demon for good. Upon peering into the small bassinet, the saw not the bloody, burning eyes or face of a demon. They saw innocent, crystal blue eyes peering at them with curiosity. Hayate tried to steel himself to accomplish what he had set out to do, but his conscience stayed his hand. Slamming the kunai into the ground in rage and frustration, he cried out loudly. He just couldn't bring himself to harm an innocent child, just like his own two baby sisters.

Just after the near breakdown, the Sandaime Hokage himself revealed himself from a corner of the room. He two the two boys about how the seal works and what a Jinchuuriki really is. Needless to say, the two boys felt lower than scum for the unforgivable sin they nearly commited and walked away with shame. Over the years, Hayate tried to remain neutral in any and all disputes that took place over the fate of the boy while Ryu just avoided the boy altogether, too ashamed of himself to even look at him. However, this behaivor led to the boy getting attacked when they could have helped him.

The next one was the sensei of the boy in question, Ichigo Suzumiya. The towering Jounin appeared seemingly overnight. No one knew anything about him or even where he came from. Only the Hokage seemed to know, as he vouched for him personally. The man's credentials were verified by the Hokage himself, so that was above question in his eyes, seeing as the Hokage had that right as the leader of this village and due to the results of the match last week. The man faced two near S-Rank opponents at the same time and took them out with disturbing ease.

Next was the startling similarities between the Uzumaki boy and Suzumiya. If the two were to be compared by their basic looks and personality, one would believe them to be directly related. Even more disturbing was the fact that the tall blond bore an incredible likeness of the Yondaime and could see that young Naruto was beginning to look like the famed Hokage, as well. However, without any proof, he could not further investigate these instances.

Ayane and Kasumi looked at his with concern. "Onii-sama, are you alright?" Kasumi asked.

Hayate snapped out of his thoughts with a start, but turned his attention to Ayane. He had to know something. "Ayane, have you noticed anything...strange, in regards to how the people of the village treat the Uzumaki boy?" He asked intently.

Ayane thought that it was a strange question until she remembered that she wanted to know why they were so hostile toward her new teammate. "Well..." She began to explain.

She told Hayate all about the nasty glares and threats that were muttered in Naruto direction, along with some barely concealed Ki that was being directed at the boy, but he shrugged it off as they made their way over to the site of their D-Rank mission. There, the owner of the restaurant went ballistic at the mere site of Naruto, screaming out curses and insults but he was ready to say somethig else until their sensei stopped him. She noticed that he was really sad, but more than that, he was afraid of something. She could see the fear in his eyes as clear as day.

"What could be so horrible about him that could make the people of the village hate him so much? He's actually really nice and fun to talk to once I gave him a chance." She commented.

"Ayane, I cannot tell you anything about his secret under the penalty of death. The only ones in this village that can are Hokage-sama and Naruto himself. The only advive that I can offer to you is to let him tell you when he is ready. From what it sounds like, his other teammate already knows, same with his sensei. If he comes to trust you as he trusts them, he just may tell you. All I can say for when that time comes, remember that he had no choice in what happened to him." Hayate told her seriously.

The girls were used to him being serious all the time, but this was different. Both girls nodded and they finished with dinner. As the girls left the dining room, Iroha confronted her brother.

"Hayate, the girls should be told the truth if they're going to be working with the boy! Jinchuuriki are dangerous!" She hissed.

Hayate shook his head. "No. This secret is for Naruto himself to divulge, no one else. He feels afraid that if he tells Ayane, she will hate him, too. He would rather suffer in silence than risk having his teammate hate him for being what he is. He'll tell her when he's ready." He reasoned.

"I hope you know what you're doing..." Iroha sighed.

Meanwhile, in the bathhouse of the clan estate, the two younger kunoichi were washing up before hitting the sack. The two sisters were relaxing in the tub when Hayate's words came to them. "Aya-chan, exactly how is Naruto-san? What's he like? Hina-chan told me a great deal about him, but I want to hear your take on him." Kasumi asked of the bob-haired girl.

Ayane sat back against the edge of the tub as she thought back to earlier that day. "Well, at first I thought he was an idiot just like his imfamous moniker, the Dead Last. Loud, abrasive, crude, crass and childish. However, none of these seemed to fit what I saw for myself. He was bright and energetic, he likes to smile and joke, have fun with whatever it is he's doing. When I talked with him, he took in everything I was saying and paid attention, occasionally supplying his input. He was also very skilled and strong, but not arrogant or overbearing. He listened to my input, even though I was the newcomer on the team and made me feel welcome..." She trailed off, blushing slightly.

The blush wasn't missed by Kasumi. _"Ohhh...Aya-chan's got a crush.'_ She thought slyly before speaking up.

"He DOES sound like a nice guy. Maybe someone's planning on staking her claim?" The auburn haired kunoichi suggested.

Ayane gave her sister a smirk. "Maybe. You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" She replied in a playful tone.

The rest of the bath was passed with the two of them talking about just general things like training and boys until they decided to go to bed for the night. The bob-haired girl had only one thing on her mind before settling down for the night, a certain blond haired boy that just became her new teammate.

_'I wouldn't mind getting to know you a little better, Naruto-kun.'_

_**KUROBEKO DANGO STAND**_

Rewinding a bit to earlier that evening, at a small Dango stand on Tea Street that Anko frequented, the aforementioned Kunoichi and Ichigo met up for some dinner and a drink afterwards.

_'And if I'm lucky, breakfast too.'_Anko giggled wickedly to herself.

"So, Anko-hime, what's been going on with you today?" Ichigo asked his significant other as he took a swig from his sake cup.

Anko sighed as she got down to telling him about her day...

_**FLASHBACK**_

_Anko's woke up that morning in a relatively good mood. Her living habits had gotten far better than they were since she began going out with Ichigo. Now, she actually ate other things than Dango for breakfast as she made some rice and tea with some miso soup. After imbibing her breakfast, she set out for another fulfilling day of breaking and torturing criminals, something she truly enjoyed doing. _

_As she made her way down the main thoroughfare of the village to the T & I Offices, located within the ANBU Headquarters, as she ran across her beau walking his team out to the training grounds. She allowed herself a moment to think about how lucky she was to have found someone that liked her for who she was inside, a small smile finding it's way onto her face. She was about to move along on her way to work when she saw someone tailing her boyfriend, someone that looked oddly familiar._

_Anko moved closer to investigate just who this woman thought she was in stalking her man when she slunk right behind her prey like a snake. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" The Snake Mistress asked in a cold, calm, and venomous tone._

_The young woman turned around in a start to reveal her to be none other than Hana Inuzuka. "Inuzuka...Just great. It's not enough that scumbag Uchiha or that rapist scum of a little brother of yours cause trouble, now YOU have to start by trying to horn in on MY man!"_

_This made Hana snarl back in response. "Don't you EVER compare me to those two lowlifes! I have a hard enough time dealing with the fallout from the shame that little shit Kiba brought on to our clan and I don't need you adding to that! Besides, he's a man. If I can defeat you, I can have the chance to make him my mate."_

_"Yes, he's a man, but he's MY man! I saw him first and he's the only man to treat me with ANY respect since that bastard ex-sensei of mine ditched me with the blame from what he did! He loves me for who I really am and I don't have to hide anymore because of him! I won't let ANYONE take him from me!" Anko roared back, her anger climbing higher and higher by the second._

_"He's the only guy to have EVER made my mother back down! Every other guy that I've brought to meet my mother, she's scared off! The rest are all spineless but he's the only one to have survived an argument with her! The way my mother handles things, I'm gonna be an old maid!" Hana argued back. The prospect of being an old maid didn't really sound too appealing to the young dog mistress._

_"That's all a real nice story, but now let's skip to the part where this is MY problem?" Anko retorted, binding Hana up with her snakes in a lightning fast move. _

_"Now you listen to ME, I will NOT have some hussy from a clan or otherwise thinking she can just muscle in on the best thing that ever happened to me! I won't bother repeating myself next time." Anko snarled as she left, her snakes following her._

**_FLASHBACK END_**

Ichigo sighed as he shook his head. "Geez...What's wrong with some people? They just can't take no for an answer, can they?"

Anko mirrored his actions with her own, followed by a deep tug from her sake bottle. "Ain't it the truth? No matter, I still got you." She cooed. He was the only person she could let her hair down around besides Kurenai and not regret it.

"Damn right, you do." Ichigo replied to her with a wide grin, slipping his arm around her waist. The two finished their drinks and food and ventured out into the night, bound for Anko's apartment and she didn't really plan on getting much sleep tonight.

_'I think it's time to take the next step. Tonight is going to be SOOOO much fun...'_ Anko thought wickedly to herself.

_A/N: Chapter 15 is now finally finished! Whew! I hope you guys liked the additions of the sisters Tenshin and DOA's resident shinobi and kunoichi, along with another original of mine in Iroha. H toyed with the ages a bit, so spare me the flames for taking some creative license with their family history, personalities, and stories. This is FANFICTION. Creativness should be encouraged. Anyway, Hinata now has to deal with Ayane, who has taken an interest is HER boyfriend. It'll be interesting to see how the new Hinata handles this new interloper. The whole thing between Anko and Hana has taken off, point of Anko! She doesn't strike me as the type of person to let another woman sniff around her man without some dire consequences._

_On one final note, REVIEW! Writing without reviews feels like working for free! I think I speak for ALL authors on this suject._


	16. Chapter 16

_I'm back with yet another installment! I've been busy with other things and my creative muse has been rather fickle as of late. I just want you guys to enjoy this new chapter, m'kay?_

_**NARUTO'S APARTMENT COMPLEX**_

Naruto woke up in a haze, scratching his head as he rose from his bed sleepily. He wandered through the hall and over to the fridge in the kitchen, pulling out some cereal and milk for breakfast and plopping down to eat. Slowly, the young blond felt consciousness return to him as he ate his cereal slowly. A groan sounded from his adopted sister's room as she came into view.

Normally, Haku was viewed as a very graceful individual. However, the people who say this have never seen her in the morning. Her lond, raven hair looked like a bird's nest as she slunk into the kitchen for her morning caffine infusion, a.k.a coffee, to get her started. The previous night, she had pulled a long, late shift at the hospital as she got settled into a routine. She had yet to recieve her first real mission, but she was still kept busy, as she was to be one of the head medics for the Chuunin Exams in a few weeks. When she learned that Naruto's team would be competeing, she was thrilled at the news. She had been teaching the team first aid and Sakura a basic Iijutsu called the Shosen no Jutsu, for scanning for and healing minor injuries. The pink haired girl found another niche for her to fit into, but Fuuinjutsu was just as interesting to her from how Jiraiya explained it.

The Toad Sage, in Haku's book, was an odd one. Even if he WAS a world-class pervert, he was also a Kage-level shinobi who could have easily defeated Zabuza without giving much effort. She did give him a piece of her mind when she found out that he was supposed to be Naruto's godfather, her motherly nature towards the young blond coming out in full force as she threatened to freeze his man parts to the point of frostbite if he ever pulled a disappearing act like that again. However, the spiky maned Sage chuckled at her and thanked her for caring about the boy where so many failed. The way things were shaping up, they formed an odd sort of family.

Anko Mitarashi, the girlfriend of Ichigo, was another odd one at first. She seemed crazy at first, but as she got to know the snake-wielding woman, she showed a very soft and caring side as she looked on Naruto. Haku asked her once what he history was with Naruto and Anko confided in her. When Anko was in the ANBU, she was assigned to watch over Naruto. She grew attached to him, singing him lullabys that she heard as a little girl and protecting him like a guardian angel. Haku could tell that she loved him very much and that it broke her heart when she was forbidden from any further contact with him by the council.

Speaking of the council, the elders and the civilian side of the council, true to what the Hokage and Ichigo were telling her, had tried to marry her off to several shinobi, from Sasuke to Kakashi himself. Ichigo, as her legal guardian, exercised his right to refuse these betrothals, regardless of what the council threatened to do. Sarutobi stepped in when the council was about to go too far in removing him from active service. He reminded them that he was her legal guardian and it was his right to refuse them. Furthermore, he would not tolerate the loss of two or more extremely powerful shinobi to appease the egos of the council.

"Ne, Haku-nee...Where's sensei?" Naruto asked in a daze.

Haku was wondering that, too. "I don't know...he wasn't in his room. He might have left already." She reasoned.

"No. We have team training today and he always goes with me to pick up everyone." Naruto replied.

"Well...I wonder where he is..." The Ice Maiden wondered.

_**IN THE MEANTIME...**_

_**AT ANKO'S APARTMENT**_

Ichigo woke up slowly, his head still in a fog.

_'Man...What a night...'_ He thought, trying to get out of bed.

The key word here is "Try", for attached to his arm, still tangled up in the covers was a passed out but very nude Anko with a huge smile on her face (_**If you can't tell what happened here, watch the Discovery Channel or pick up a Penthouse Forum or something. Damn...**_).

He simply looked at her with a small smile as he played with her bangs. His stirrings also awoke the Snake Princess, who slowly opened her honey colored eyes to look at him with a sleepy, but dblissful gaze.

"Good morning, Icchan..." She breathed out, pulling him back to her with a kiss.

"Morning, hime. Sleep well?" He replied, squeezing her tight.

"Yeah...You really wore me out last night, y'know that?" Anko said playfully as she pressed herself into his chest.

"Same to you, hime. Who knew you were such an animal in bed?" He asked with a smirk.

"Only for you. Only you." She breathed.

Ichigo lay in her bed, her head resting on his shoulder and getting ready to doze off again when he spied the time on her alarm clock. "Oh shit..." He muttered.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I gotta get going. I'm supposed to pick up my team shortly." He explained.

"Oh! You can use my shower and I'll make some breakfast. I don't have to be at work today, Ibiki gave me a day off so he could test out some new toys of his." She told him, getting a crazy look in her eyes at the mention of new toys.

As he took his shower, he chuckled at how crazy his girlfriend could be, but loved her for it. It made life so much more interesting and on top of that, she was very loyal to those she cared for. She had this caring side that very few ever saw, or would ever see. Her mask of a crazy, sadistic bitch would be all anyone else would see. Only the Hokage, Ibiki, Inoichi, Naruto, and Ichigo have ever seen this side of her.

Anko was thinking things over while she fixed a simple breakfast, feeling oddly content while she did. I mean, Konoha's resident psychopath and the so-called Sanke Whore, cooking breakfast like a happy newlywed? Who would have thought that possible? For Anko herself, she had almost given up on trying to find any shred of happiness until Ichigo appeared in her life from out of nowhere. She believed that Kami had finally forgiven her for all of the things she did under Orochimaru and that the Yondaime was rewarding her from heaven for protecting his legacy.

Ichigo hopped out of the shower and got his uniform on, rushing into Anko's kitchen when she had a few pancakes waiting for him. Sitting down to briefly eat his breakfast, he only paused on his way out the door to kiss her goodbye.

"Have a good day, Icchan!" She chimed.

"You too, dear." He replied without thinking.

As he teleported back to his own place to pick up Naruto, Anko could only think of one thing...

_'What the HELL was that? I sounded like a giddy housewife or some crap like that!' _Anko thought as she went back into the apartment, but paused.

_'But...That felt really good, too.'_ She added mentally as she slumped against her door, a smile on her face. She then got an idea to pass the time on her day off. She had never really met the brats on her boyfriend's team before and she heard that the Uchiha brat had been replaced on his team.

"I know what I'm doing today." She declared in a sing-song voice as she threw on her trademark trenchcoat, strapped in her pouches and bounced and skipped merrily out the door.

_**WITH NARUTO **_

Naruto looked at the clock in the kitchen and noticed that he needed to start getting ready to go to training. After helping Haku with the dishes from breakfast _**(Which wasn't much, a couple of bowls...)**_, he gathered all of his gear and was about to head out the door when Ichigo came in.

Saki noticed a peculiar scent coming from him. _**'Ichigo-kun, you rascal...You got together with that Anko girl that was so much like Shiina-chan.'**_The Fox Demoness thought slyly.

"Hey sensei! Where were you last night? You never came home!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I was worried, Ichigo-ojisan, that something may have come up or happened to you." Haku added.

Ichigo just chuckled nerviously as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, you see...Last night I was with Anko-chan and...uh...oh boy." He trailed off as he blushed.

Haku's eyes went wide for a moment as the fact of what he was up to sunk in. Naruto was puzzled as to what happened when Haku bent low and whispered what he meant into his ear. The end result was that Naruto turned as red as a beet, trying his level best to keep his nose from springing a leak.

"A-Anyway, let's get going and pick up the girls to training." Ichigo said quickly, recovering.

Naruto nodded dumbly as he followed along. Haku looked at the clock and cursed under her breath.

"I need to get ready, too." She muttered as she entered her room to get ready for her shift at the hospital.

_**TRAINING GROUND #7**_

They had begun a practice of going to the training grounds together in order to promote better cohesion in the team, but Sasuke wasn't really a team player. Their next stop was the Haruno residence to pick up Sakura, who was waiting next to her mother while chatting with a customer. As soon as she saw them, she ran up to her friend/teammate and friend/sensei.

"Hey guys! I'm ready!" She chirped cheerfully. Ever since she lost her Sasuke obsession, she's been very cheerful and happy. She no longer felt the pressure to impress someone that was, for all intents and purposes, a total douchebag.

After leaving her comfy little neighborhood, they ventured into the upper crust area, the clan district. After a few more minutes of walking, they came upon the Tenshin clan compound. After knocking at the gates for a few moments, a retainer of the family arrived to allow them in, directing them to Hayate.

"I am Ayane's new Jounin sensei, Ichigo Suzumiya, and this is her new team. We are here to pick her up for team training." He explained to the equally young clan head.

"Ah...Ayane mentioned this last night over supper. I'll have Gennosuke fetch her." He mentioned as he ordered said servant to go get the last member of Team 7. Hayate looked at them all with a critical eye, especially young Naruto.

The rest of Team 7 noticed this and their sensei spoke out about it. "Is there something amiss about my student?" He asked probingly.

Hayate stopped his gaze upon being noticed. "I was wondering something...How is young Naruto doing these days?" He asked.

A fair enough question.

"I'm doing fine, Tenshin-sama." Naruto answered, short and to the point, with a slight bit of unease.

Sakura was getting a bit worried about Naruto and how this man was showing him an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny.

"Are you worried about the Fox?" Naruto added with a piercing gaze, making Hayate's eyes go a bit wide. He also noticed his eyes wander to his kunoichi teammate, who didn't look the least bit disturbed by what he said.

"In case you're wondering, Sakura already knows about the Kyuubi and it doesn't bother her at all." Ichigo supplied.

Hayate regained his bearings. "Yes, I was. If you are going to be around Ayane, I wish to know if he is in control of his demon." Hayate requested, getting right to the point.

"Yes, he is. She is a very kind demon and would never think of controlling him. I've met her before, Hayate-san, and I know this to be true. Is this what you wanted to know?" Ichigo answered curtly.

"I am sorry for my lack of tact, but I needed to be sure. Ayane is some of the only family I have left and I want to make sure she will be looked after. From what I've heard of you all and from what I've just seen, I can rest easy. For what it's worth, I am sorry for doubting you, Naruto-san." Hayate told them, bowing low.

Naruto waved off the apology. "It's cool. I've been dealing with it my whole life. Also, don't call me _-san_. Just Naruto will do." The young blond told him with a cheerful smile.

_'How could I have mistaken this child for a demon? I really was just young and foolish.'_ Hayate reasoned.

As he came out of his bow, Ayane turned the corner and entered the tea room to see her new teammates and sensei. "I'm not late, am I?" She asked nerviously.

"Oh no, Ayane-chan. I'm just in the habit of picking up my students to having us all walk to the training area together to promote cohesion and teamwork." Ichigo explained to her, making her nod her head thoughtfully. This new sensei's stock just rose a few more points in her estimation.

"That sounds nice! Let's go!" Ayane cheered.

Ichigo chuckled as he shook his head, following them out of the house and the compound.

"So, Ichigo-kun is the Jounin sensei of the Kyuubi brat?" Iroha said aloud from behind Hayate.

"Yes he is, sister. He's shaping up to be a fine young man under Suzumiya-san. All he really needed was someone to show him the way." Hayate answered her.

Iroha stood in thought. _'Have I been wrong about the boy?'_ She wondered as she set out to observe his interactions with her youngest sister.

_**TRAINING GROUND #7**_

Just as soon as the team reached their designated training area, Ichigo set them to work on stretches and basic calisthenics, such as Hurdler Stretches and Eight-Count Bodybuilders for conditioning. Instead of what Kakashi and Ayane's old sensei did, sitting off to the side and wasting time, he took off his vest and did the exercises along side them.

"Just because I'm a Jounin, doesn't mean that I shouldn't take part in the training, too. Sitting off to the side and watching sets a bad example and would make me lazy." He told them.

Naruto and Sakura looked up to him already with respect. Kakashi was a pathetic excuse for a sensei, who just read his porn book while watching them struggle and on top of that, he gave Sasuke extra training. Sakura knew this because she used to stick around and watch while she was still fawning over the Uchiha jerk.

Ayane had only known the man for less than a few days, but her respect for him was already far above that which she showed her first sensei. She, at first, believed him to be a dismal failure since she had never heard of him before, but that was because he hid in plain sight and didn't showboat if he could help it, on top of being pretty modest and generally a nice person. He was a far cry different from her brother's friend, Ryu Hayabusa, who was a bit of an elitist and aloof to all.

After their warm-ups were done, it was time for some extra chakra training. This time was used to get a feeling for any Ninjutsu that Ayane might know. She showed an affinity for lightning jutsu, as well as the Academy three. Unfortunately, he knew no Raiton jutsu and the only person he knew that did was Kakashi. He couldn't very well see Kakashi offering any assistance. His own sub-elemental powers offered lighting, but she didn't have his abilities, as all of his offensive and defensive abilities were pure manipulation, obeying his will. In short, he was unable to help her extend her jutsu library, just like his other students.

He did, however, train them as best he could in chakra control exercises, physical conditioning drills such as Indian Runs and Wind Sprints around the training grounds, as well as extensive Taijutsu and weapons training for those who used them.

Iroha landed just shy of the training area as she began her survaillence of one Naruto Uzumaki. She had just showed up in time for sparring practice and it was Naruto against her baby sister. '_Okay, Uzumaki-san...Let's see if my brother was right about you.'_ She said inwardly as she continued to watch.

Ichigo picked up a faint presense from nearby. It was carefully concealed and suppressed, and he had a hard time catching it. However, he felt not ill intent and it definitely wasn't Kakashi, so he let them watch...for now.

"Naruto, Ayane. Go ahead and spar, Sakura is the ref for this one. Remember, light contact only amd first clean hit wins. I'll be watching." He told the team as he sat down on a stump and watched.

Sakura raised her hand and dropped it, signaling the match to start. Ayane launched herself forward using her Tenshin style taijutsu, starting out with a missile-like dropkick that even though Naruto blocked, it still threw him back a couple of feet. She didn't let up as she continued to assualt him with a barrage of punches and kicks until Naruto managed to catch one of her knife handed attacks and delivered a knee to her gut, making her stumble back and rub it tenderly.

"Nice shot, Naruto-kun..." She wheezed as he helped her back to her feet with a grin.

"You did good, too, Ayane-chan." He complimented, unwittingly making her blush a bright shade of red.

Sakura noticed that she was blushing, as well, knowing full well what the girl was thinking right at this moment. She also knew that Naruto wasn't trying to attract her affections, but understood that just by being himself, he could attract girls like honey would bees while being completely honest. She inwardly cursed herself for being blinded by Sasuke for so long, otherwise she would have moved in on him herself. However, he all but belonged to Hinata, and this newer Hinata didn't look the type that appreciated other girls sniffing around her man. Messing with a girl who could turn your face into a Pablo Picasso masterpiece was usually a bad idea.

_'Uh oh...I'd better clue her in on Hinata or we'll be short a teammate again.'_ Sakura thought. She'd talk with her after practice today since she had some free time.

As the kids shifted around, Sakura facing Naruto and Ayane being the ref, Iroha was still watching them.

_'He really is a nice kid...Maybe Hayate was right about him and he isn't a threat. Even though he was sparring with her, he was still gentle and tried not to hurt her.'_ Iroha thought, smiling slightly.

Anko had lept into the clearing, intent on finding her man. Iroha scowled at the sight of her.

_'That Snake tramp...You unclean little harlot, don't touch him!'_ She snarled mentally.

Anko, on the other hand, knew she was there so she decided to ham it up a bit, kissing Ichigo on the lips lightly while on her toes.

"Hey, Icchan." She greeted him sweetly.

"Hey, Hime! What are you doing here, not that I'm complaining." He replied as he returned the affection.

"I realized that the only genin I knew on your team was the gaki here, so I wanted to meet the other two." She answered, looking the two younger kunoichi over.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Sakura asked politely.

Anko gave her a wide grin as she replied. "I'm Anko Mitarashi! A Tokubetsu Jounin, 24 years old, sexy as hell but off the market!" She gleefully announced, grinning widely while holding her fingers up in a victory sign.

Ayane had heard about Anko from her brother, that she and her boss at Torture and Interrogation were like the Boogie Monsters of the Leaf, scary stories told to little kids that would make them wet the bed in the middle of the night. However, the woman she's seeing before her looked to be a pretty happy-go-lucky person.

Sakura remembered Naruto tell her about Anko and how he knew her from when he was really little, that she protected him from people who tried to hurt him. Sakura knew the truth about why Naruto was treated the way he was from Naruto himself and her father confirmed that what she was told was the truth, if not a watered down version. She didn't, however, know that this woman was going out with her sensei. She wouldn't admit it because she thought it would sound sort of wierd, but she felt a bit jealous of Anko.

"Anyway, I came by to see if I could offer any help since I helped shorty here." She offered, Naruto givign an indignant squwak at being called short. Even Ayane was slightly taller than he was and she was pretty short.

"Well, Sakura could use a couple of Suiton jutsu to expand her library. Ayane, maybe a few Genjutsu unless you know anyone other than Hatake that has a lightning afftinity." He mused aloud.

The girls were talking amongest themselves while Naruto listened to the two Jounin map out their training. Anko and Ichigo were going through everyone they knew who could help them until Anko remembered someone.

"Kurenai..." She whispered.

"Huh?" He asked.

"I remember that Kurenai has a Raiton affinity and she might know some Raiton jutsu on top of teaching your two girls a bit of Genjutsu." Anko reasoned.

"That would work...I can trade my Taijutsu knowledge like I did with Asuma's team...I like your idea, Hime." He told her warmly as she left to find her long time friend and explain the deal.

As he went back to Taijutsu practice with his students, he was working out something to help Naruto out during the the time the girls would be learning from Kurenai, like helping him further master that kodachi he gave to him at the end of the Wave Mission. He hadn't worked on Naruto's Kenjutsu for a while, so it would need some polishing.

_**TEAM 8 TRAINING GROUND**_

Team Kurenai had just finished with the Water Walking exercise and were taking a break next to a tree when Anko landed next to Kurenai. The raven haired kunoichi turned to find her long time friend.

"An-chan? Not that I mind seeing you, but what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Well, you remember that deal that Icchan worked out with Asuma? Ninjutsu for Taijutsu?" Anko asked.

Kurenai paused for a moment as she gave it some thought. Hinata was making great strides with her Jyuuken, Kasumi had her clan's Mugen Tenshin Ryu, Shino had his clan's fighting arts, but they could always use a little more polishing since Taijutsu wasn't her strong point.

_'I could stand to brush up a little myself. Taijutsu was never really my forte...'_ Kurenai mused as she mulled the decision over in her head.

"I'll do it. This will give my team a more rounded skill base than what I could give them. In exchange, I'll teach chakra exercises, awareness, his Raiton kunoichi a couple of the smaller Raiton jutsu I know, as well as some minor Genjutsu." The raven haired Jounin agreed.

Anko smiled at the good sense her friend was showing as she lept off. This training arrangement served to even out and strengthen her Genin, while helping Ichigo's team at the same time. On top of that, Anko would be helping both teams when she wasn't busy, since both her boyfriend and her best friend were the sensei for both teams.

Kurenai turned to inform her genin of the situation. "Team, today, we're going over to Team 7 and doing a cross training exercise with them." She explained, leading her team over to team 7's Training ground.

Hinata was estatic when she heard about this new training plan. She would get to train along side her boyfriend again. Their time together has been some what limited as of late due to their teams getting ready for the Chuunin exams and she wanted to she wanted to introduce Kasumi to her boyfriend.

"I can't wait to finally introduce you to Naruto-kun!" Hinata said cheerfully.

"Really? I have wanted to meet your friend after all you've told me about him. He sounds like an interesting and nice person." Kasumi mused with a grin.

Since coming to Team 8, Kasumi had become fast friends with her teammates, especially Hinata. Granted, Hinata now had far more fire in her than she used to, but deep down, she was still the same sweet girl she knew when they first met.

Hinata had told her much about Naruto, but not that he was her boyfriend, yet. Well, no better time for a real education on the subject, than right now. Right folks?

"I'd like to meet this boy that Ayane-chan has a crush on. He's supposed to be on Team 7..." Kasumi thought aloud.

An explosion of Ki ripped through the training ground, scaring away any small animals and weaker willed people in the area. Shino's bugs WERE out and about, but this wave of malice that washed over them chased them back into their host. Kurenai whipped out a kunai on instinct, looking around for her foe only to find her normally peaceable student radiating enough Ki to scare a jounin. Kasumi, who was at Ground Zero, wondered what she said that set off this gentle girl's anger.

"H-Hinata?" Kasumi stammered out.

"I'm sorry, but what was that you said?" Hinata asked in a sweet tone that only served to unnerve the rest of her team even more.

"My s-sister h-has this b-boy she likes on her n-new team..." Kasumi explained. What the hell was that? Hinata's a scarier person than she thought.

"Is his name Naruto by any chance?"

"Y-yeah...I thnik so." Kasumi replied. It suddenly hit her. The boy she was always talking about and the boy Ayane was crushing on was Hinata's boyfriend. This was very bad news for her sister.

_'Oh crap! Naruto is Hinata's man! This is going to get ugly...' _Kasumi thought as they continued on.

_A/N : Finally! Chapter 16 up and running! Looks like there's going to be some trouble in paradise when Hinata and Ayane meet again. There's going to be war clouds on the horizon as these two young kunoichi face off for the affections of the boy they like._

_Also, ol' Ichigo and Anko have finally taken their relationship to the next level and one of the best parts...Boot knockin'! Things are gettin' steamy here! No Rin and Tsunade yet, but they'll be here soon and certain people will have Hell to pay!_

_As always, if you add this to your favorites or alerts, leave a goddamn review! It feels like I'm working for free when people do that and so un-appreiciated._


	17. Chapter 17

_Hey guys...I know that it's been a while since I last updated this fic, but extenuating circumstances kept me from doing it, other than my muse just not jiving for this fic. I made up for that fact with making this chapter over twice as long as one of my normal chapter...along with the fact that I wanted to squeeze all of this into one chapter. To those of you who like Ryu Hayabusa, be warned. He is one of the semi-villains in this fic. If you don't like it, don't bother flaming me for it. Go and fondle yourself somewhere and let the writer keep going for the people that can handle a little change. If you want a re-cap, go back a few chapters, like I usually do for everyone else's fics that I read._

_**TRAINING GROUND #7**_

Team 8 rolled into TG #7 just under a half an hour after Anko left to inform them of the arrangement. Hinata immediately ran up to Naruto and snatched HER boyfriend up in a hug, blowing right past Ayane, who was giving her a dark look.

"Naru-kun, I'm happy that our teams will be training together." Hinata told him happily.

"Hina-chan! Cool! This is going to be great. I want you to meet the one who replaced Sasuke-teme! She's really nice!" Naruto told her happily, eager to introduce his new friend to his girlfriend.

Hinata walked up to Ayane and held out her hand. "Well, hello there, Aya-chan." Hinata greeted.

"Same to you, Hina-chan. It's been awhile." The bandanna clad kunoichi replied.

The others there could feel the tension between the two. Anko could feel the animosity the two had that was thinly veiled and was moderately impressed with the two. Kurenai was waiting for them to fly at each other in a worst case scenario, but knew that Hinata was more composed than that, so she hoped. Sakura and Kasumi were ready to restrain the two if they came to blows, but I.S was hankering for a wild catfight. Shino and Ichigo were also ready to jump in and restrain them. Hinata could get vicious if she really wanted to.

Naruto...was oblivious as hell.

"Cool! You guys know each other already!" He said cheerfully as the two girls continued to try and glare holes through each other.

_'No way is this...hussy going to just muscle in on MY boyfriend!'_Hinata thought...or rather snarled mentally. Seriously, if a girl this gentle was THIS pissed off, I would seriously consider hiding. Discretion IS the better part of valor, y'know.

_'So...Shy little Hinata fancies herself Naruto-kun's girlfriend, huh? Well, we'll see about that, little miss Hyuuga Princess!'_ Ayane chuckled darkly to herself as they broke visual contact.

Kasumi was getting worried that Ayane was in over her head. This Hinata was a far cry different from the one they knew before and the auburn haired girl had NO idea what she was capable of or what she would do. From how Hinata trained and sparred with her and Shino, she could dole out some serious pain if she chose to.

"Okay...Now, which should we do first, the chakra exercises or the Taijutsu training?" Ichigo asked, breaking the uneasy silence.

"Well, let's let them get some of that excess energy out with some full contact sparring!" Anko answered him with a near manaical grin, making the genin flinch.

"I can agree with that." Kurenai agreed with her friend, eyeing the two kunoichi who were eyeing each other with thinly veiled hostility. They would need an outlet to vent some of this hostility before any chakra exercises could take place.

With that, Ichigo set them all to sparring with him in the usual fashion, all of the genin against him in a battle royale. Everyone but Kasumi had seen him fight, but only Team 7 and Anko had faced him personally, so she was in for a real education!

"I always thought that the best way to conduct combat training was to just do it. Through experience, the form and skill will come naturally. I'll allow you to use any jutsu and style you know to fight me seriously. I need you all to fight with EVERYTHING you've got!" He instructed them as water and air wrapped themselves around him, himself wearing a crazy grin that told Team 7 that they were in for a world of hurt.

"What's...up with those looks? What's he doing?" Kasumi asked, now getting VERY nervous. She'd never seen him fight before.

"Well...You're about to find out. Sensei's...a little different from most people." Ayane deadpanned as they all braced for the maelstrom to come.

Kurenai let loose with a Raiton jutsu as Anko let fly with an Earth jutsu to open up the barrage. Ichigo lept out of the way and used a wind blast to diffuse the lightning, but Naruto and Sakura were waiting for him with a Wind and Water jutsu apiece, both aimed right at his trajectory.

"Yeah! We got 'im!" Naruto crowed, but he was badly mistaken.

Ichigo solidified the air beneath him and performed a double jump in midair to avoid the wind and CAUGHT the water.

"Aw, come on!" Naruto moaned as he nearly got nailed with Sakura's water blast.

Kasumi saw this and paled.

"Did...he just..." She stammered, but was answered by Anko.

"Yep! This guy can actually command Air and Water WITHOUT handseals and he can turn them against you, so be careful what you try to use! Wind and water will only be hijacked while lightning and fire will be nullified! Only earth jutsu will have any chance of hitting him!" The Snake Mistress answered.

"Oh crap..." Kasumi grumbled as an Air blast screamed by her face and made a crater in the ground next to her, sending her scrambling for cover. She knew no earth jutsu, as she was water natured, so she was SOL (Shit outta luck).

Finally, Shino had hung back to wait for a chance to strike. He launched a salvo of bugs at him in order to drain him of his chakra, but his bugs were noticed as he let loose with a burst of chakra that worked even better than a can of Raid.

"Sorry, Shino. You've got to try harder than that." Ichigo taunted as he shifted his tactics.

"Now that the fun's out of the way...Team 8, time to see what you're working with! Team 7, Anko-chan, stand down." He called out as Anko and Team 7 backed off.

Taijutsu was another favorite of the tall blond as he shifted into a comfortable stance, Hakkesho. Hinata wasted no words in engaging him with her Jyuuken, which was based off of the style he was using. Parry for parry, thrust for thrust, he let her set the pace as he wanted her to get some good practice out of this.

After a solid minute of sparring, he juked out of her path and leapfrogged over her to engage his next opponent, Shino. Shino stepped up and engaged him in his clan's fighting style, which reminded him of Mantis style Kung Fu so he switched to Capoeira. He started to bounce and weave as if he was dancing. It proved to be a good foil for the sharp, rigid movements as he weaved through Shino's thrusts, forcing him to adapt. Shino put up quite a fight for a Genin, but Ichigo had to put him away so that the next one in line could fight, Kurenai.

Kurenai fought with the standard Taijutsu style out of the Academy, albeit with more advanced moves and forms. To counter her, he began to use Hung Ga, one of the Southern Styles of Ancient Shaolin Martial Arts with it's strong, low center of gravity strikes, it's steady movements to slow down the fast and furious strikes that Kurenai was packing. Being a Jounin, she presented a greater challenge than the Genin. She was a good deal faster than they were and had much more combat experience. Yet...she was shunted aside by a twin fisted strike. He then fought the final member of Team 8, Kasumi.

"Alright! Let's see what Ayane-chan's sister brings to the table!" He whooped as he invited her to make the first move, taking a neutral stance as he waited for her first move.

She looked unsure, so he dropped out of his stance for a moment. She looked scared.

"Look, I'm doing this for your own good. I need to see what you can do so that I can help you learn. Come on, you can do this." He encouraged.

She looked inside of herself, all of her doubts and fears.

_'Kasumi-hime...you are still too soft. You are not cut out to be a ninja like those who came before you.'_ Ryu's words came back to her, burning at her confidence. She never really liked him all that much. He was never outright cruel, but he was overly blunt with his words and never one for encouragement. It was either perfection or nothing.

_'My little sister...You can do this. I know you can.' _Were her brothers words. He was always behind her and Ayane, trying to encourage them.

_'Come on, you can do this.'_Ichigo's words to her just now replayed, bolstering her confidence even more. Ayane had told her a great deal about her new sensei, that he was a wonderful man that would bend over backwards to help his students, real or temporary.

_'Don't worry...Just keep trying. I know you'll get it.'_Kurenai was a doting teacher, a farcry from her previous sensei. She was quickly becoming a trusted mentor in her eyes.

After a moment of hesitation, she adopted the stance of the Mugen Tenshin Ryu and charged him.

"Good girl." He whispered as he changed his stance over to Northern Shaolin Tiger style, with its powerful and fast strikes to match the quick knife handhand strikes of the Tenshin style.

Kasumi pressed her attack as she turned up the heat, her thrusts coming at him like a machine gun, but the style he was using and his experience allowed him to stay one step ahead of her as he allowed her to attack. Blocking a strike and batting it aside, he began to pick at her defenses to force her into adapting and learn. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he nailed her with a palm strike to her abdomen and took her down, finishing this session.

"You did very well, Kasumi-chan, as did all of your team. I believe I can help you all with your Taijutsu, if you will allow me to." He told her as he gently helped her to her feet and walked her back to her team, who were all praising each other and supporting one another like a proper team should.

The crosstraining went on for another few hours until the sun was beginning to set in West. Ayane had learned a simple, yet effective Raiton jutsu to start out with, called the _**RAITON : DAGEKI**_. It simply fired off a single bolt of electricity and was mainly used to stun opponents, but if a lot of chakra was funnelled into it and depending on where it hit, it could be lethal, as Kurenai warned her of the dangers of using this element was. On top of that, an exercise that was given to her was to light a light bulb without blowing it out for as long as you can. The longer you could do it, the better your control. As for Naruto and Sakura, they were given extra Genjutsu awareness and breaking training. One method of breaking Genjutsu was beyond Naruto's means, since hiding his chakra was like trying to hide a Hippo in a kiddie pool. He got around this setback by simply sending out a massive chakra pulse that washed over a most of the training grounds and half of the village.

"Eh heh...oops?" He said sheepishly as Kurenai gave him a chuckle.

"Oh well, I suppose you had to make up for it some how." She reasoned.

Over with Ichigo, he was drilling them on basic physical exercises that he put his team through and having them spar with one another without using their jutsu or Bloodlines.

"Depending on your Kekkei Genkai or Ninjutsu too much can turn deadly for you if it is stripped from you suddenly, so you need to have a reliable back up with Taijutsu." He emphasized, drilling them into the ground.

When fighting them, he'd dumb it down a little to help them learn as much as they could, like intentionally leaving openings to teach them to look for them. Since Hinata's Jyuuken was completely reliant on the Byakugan, he was beginning to teach her another style, Tai Chi Quan, since it complimented the Jyuuken so nicely. Shino needed a little more flexibility with his movements, so he was beginning to teach him the basics of the Nothern Tiger Style fighting he used against his teammate Kasumi. As for Kasumi, he noticed that the Mugen Tenshin style resembled a style called Koppouken and he noticed furing her fight with him that she had an extraordinary amount of flexibility and that her legs were VERY strong for a girl her age. To that effect, he began to teach her Tae Kwon Do, a marital art that would take advantage to her strengths, starting with showing the Horse Stance and the basic movements for the style for now.

After they decided to call it quits for the day, the teams went their separate ways, but not before, Hinata asserted the fact that Naruto was HER man by tightly embracing him and giving him a kiss. Ayane's faced darkened as she growled in irritation.

_'Hmph... So she's grown a spine, big freakin' deal. I'll still deal with HER when the time comes. Then Naruto-kun will know that I'M the better choice.'_Ayane schemed.

_'I don't like that look on that hussy's face. Naruto-kun is MINE and I won't share him! I've come too far to let some other harlot horn her way in!'_ She thought furiously as her grip on his arm tightened before she let him go.

"Bye, Naru-kun...I love you." She told him as she kissed his cheek.

"Yeah...You too, Hina-chan." He replied, a goofy smile plastered on his face, just like everytine she kissed him, making Ayane glare jealously.

The three adults all gathered off to the side.

"I think this went over pretty well. My team gained some good advice and a nudge in the right direction." Kurenai mused thoughtfully.

"Likewise. I couldn't teach Ayane how to use her Lightning element if my life depended on it, but I knew that it wouldn't be fair to leave her out in the cold. Thanks for going the extra mile and teaching them more Genjutsu stuff. I'm hopeless at it." Ichigo admitted sheepishly.

"Well, I say we three go to a bar and celebrate this little victory!" Anko chimed in, slinging her arms around her best friend and her boyfriend.

"Well, can I meet you guys there? I wanna walk my team home first. It's become a bit of a tradition with us." He told the two ladies apologetically.

"Well, this gives me time to track down Asuma." Kurenai reasoned.

"Aw hell, I'll go with Icchan and we'll all meet up at Soyokaze later, say around seven." Anko added as they took their teams home for the day.

_**SOYOKAZE SHINOBI BAR**_

Anko and Ichigo had dropped off Team 7 at home. The Haruno family invited them in for dinner, but only Naruto took the invitation since he had nothing else to do and hanging out with a friend as her family seemed fun, not to mention that he really liked Sanae's cooking. She was like an aunt to him, one he always looked forward to visiting and Sakura was like a cousin in that sense, family. They made him feel welcome and by dammit, it felt pretty damn good. Next up, they dropped off Ayane at the Tenshin compound, where some dark looks that made even Hayate highly uncomfortable were thrown around between Iroha and Anko. Hayate's friend, Ryu, was over at the time and he got to see the person that took Kakashi and Koseki, and made them look like complete idiots. He respected that, but an errant comment was thrown in there.

"Hmph. The Hyuuga are overrated and Hatake's been on the decline for years. I'd like to see what you can really do in a fight against a much better opponent." He commented before Hayate could stop him.

Hayate saw that match and knew that he was taking it easy on them. His long time friend was asking for trouble and staring down the barrel of the proverbial Shotgun that could blow his face off. He knew his friend had been wanting to have a match with his baby sister's sensei ever since people started saying that he could quite possibly be on par with the Hokage himself and Ryu wanted to see for himself. Ryu was highly skilled, but that doesn't nesscessarily mean smart.

"Like who? You?" Ichigo asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yes. I'd like to see if you have truly earned your rank." Ryu shot back.

"As if taking down Hatake, that asshat Hyuuga dude, that Zabuza guy AND those thugs out weren't enough..." Ichigo muttered to himself before answering him.

"Listen bub, I have nothing to prove to you or anyone for that matter. If you doubt me, that's fine. I don't really care. The truth will speak for itself when the time comes. Now, if you're done having the improptu pissing match, I'd like to get on with my evening." The towering blond finished calmly as he spun on his heel and marched out, Anko right behind him.

Hayate was just shaking his head at his friend's eagerness for a fight. _'It'll come back to haunt him one day...'_ He mused, looking at his indignant friend.

ANYWAY, we now find our Jounin and Tokujo (_**That would be Anko...**_) getting ready for some drinks at a popular shinobi-only bar, Soyokaze. The cross-training that they had introduced had been a rousing success, especially since Team's 8 and 7 purged the problem members from their teams and the ones that replaced them were working out pretty well.

"I'm glad that Sakura's _"Uchiha"_affliction has been cured so to speak. Since she's kicked the habit, she's been growing at a scary pace and she picks stuff up just as fast as Naruto does if not faster at times. Her and Naruto have been getting along extremely well, almost like family and Ayane has found herself a niche in the team dymanics! I'm entering them in the Chuunin Exams!" He told them excitedly.

"I don't know...Do you think they even stand a chance of getting promoted? They could get seriously hurt out there." Kurenai asked, concerned.

"Well, as I see it, even if they don't advance, they will gain some valuable experience and I know that their teamwork will see them through. I've been told about how brutal these tests can be and I figure since the next one is to be held here at home, it would be the best chance for them and safer, too." Ichigo pointed out.

"I agree with him on this one. It's better to baptise them now while we have the home field advantage. If they do get hurt, they have a MUCH higher chance of surviving with friendly medical care readily availiable. This would be a good opportunity for them to gain some real battle experience." Asuma agreed.

Kurenai mulled over what they were saying. Sure, the Chuunin Exams were exceedingly dangerous, but they just as dangerous for veteran Genin and this time it was being held here in their village. Just that alone made her feel better about letting them participate.

"Well, I want to further season them a bit more before I make anymore decisions. Besides, Kasumi still has some confidence issues that need to be worked out, but what you did for her today helped her greatly." Kurenai settled.

"Well...they're your students and if you think that's best, then I won't argue. You're welcome to send her over if you want to. I'm sure her sister would love to spar and train with her more." Ichigo replied with a grin.

"Same here, Kure-chan. It's your team. No pressure." Asuma added to the woman he was _"Secretly"_ courting, but it was one of the most ill-kept secrets in the village.

Changing the subject, they began to discuss all that's been going on with themselves.

"So, how's Haku adjusting to her new duties and her rank?" Asuma asked.

"She's been adjusting pretty well, but she doesn't really like being bored. They really have her hopping over at the hospital and she's due to be one of the medical overseers for the Chuunin Exams. I can tell she's getting bored with only being in the hospital for now, but after the exams are over, I'll take her along with my team out on a B-rank or so, just to get her out of the village for a while. Being couped up can make her a little shack wacky. I saw her trying to build a replica of the Hokage Tower out of senbon once." Ichigo commented on his ward.

"Ouch..." Anko winced. She was glad the SHE never got that bored, and the rest of the village probably felt the same way, too.

"So An-chan...How have things been going between you two?" Kurenai asked slyly.

Anko blushed for a second before she wore a shit eating grin. "Last night was fucking awesome! That's all I have to say." Anko said airily.

Kurenai knew exactly what that meant and so did Asuma if his blush and smirk said anything .

"So? How was it?" Asuma asked Ichigo in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Oh no...I am NOT going to kiss and tell, but...She's like some kind of contortionist, that's all I'll say." Ichigo whispered back with a dopey grin and a glazed look in his eyes.

Asuma got the same kind of grin on his face, a trickle of blood coming from his nose and wondered if Kurenai was that flexible...well hoped she was. He was imagining her in various positions when she called to him.

"Yeah, Kure-chan?" He asked dreamily.

"What are you thinking about? Nothing pervy, I hope." She said, her tone holding a hidden warning.

"Oh no, Kure-chan! Nothing like that!" He responded in a near panic. She was a well known pervert punisher and her Genjutsu were pretty vile for those she found guilty.

"That's better." Kurenai told him, still casting a wary eye on him as he sighed in relief.

"Well, I'd better get home 'cause I'm getting hungry and Haku'll skin me if I miss dinner!" He chortled as he stood up and paid his share of the tab and kissed Anko.

"Later guys, Hime." He told them as he left the bar, the other three right behind him.

_**BACK AT THE TENSHIN ESTATE**_

The Tenshin Clan was currently taking in supper for the evening when Hayate got curious as to how things went with training that day.

"So, how did things go today? I never got around to asking you girls that." Hayate asked.

"Well, Kurenai-sensei suggested that we cross train with Team 7 today. Anko-sensei came over an pitched the idea to her and she seemed to like it. The deal was that Ayane's sensei would coach my team along with Kurenai-sensei herself through our Taijutsu while she helped Ayane-chan with her Lightning affinity and gave us extra Genjutsu training." Kasumi answered.

"Genjutsu training, huh?" Hayate pondered. He knew of the ways to dispel genjutsu and could imagine that with the Kyuubi, Naruto's control had to be terrible but it gave him nearly superhuman chakra reserves and force, so that left him with one option.

"So THAT'S what that chakra pulse earlier today was..." He mused.

"Did it really make it this far?" Ayane asked, her violet eyes wide.

"Well, the reports did say that Genjutsu all over the village were disrupted..." Hayate murmured.

"The only reason why a child like Uzumaki could be so powerful is because..."

"You know we can't say it, Ryu." Hayate warned, cutting him off and alarming the girls.

"But what about Uzumaki-san is so horrible that it can't be mentioned? He really is a nice person, just like Aya-chan told me." Kasumi inquired.

"Like I told your sister, it is for Naruto-san himself to divulge. He will eventually tell you once he comes to know and trust you." Hayate told her.

"Hn...Why would your clan associate with one like...him? If nothing, it will bring you trouble from the council." Ryu shot back.

"Do not tell me that you believe the villagers, my friend?" Hayate asked, not really believing what he heard.

"He has yet to prove otherwise, Hayate. Until then, I will see him as a dormant threat." Ryu said with finality as he stood to leave.

"Naruto-kun is a really nice boy, Ryu! Leave him alone!" Ayane yelled out against him, something she had never done before.

The one who was dubbed the "_Super Ninja_" stopped in his tracks.

"Can an heiress such as yourself really afford to be so careless with your standing?" Ryu replied.

"Hinata's been dating him and her father approves of him! That proves that he's good! Stop being such a jerk!" Kasumi added in her sister's defense.

Ryu looked like he had been physically struck.

_'The Kyuubi child gained the favor of the Hyuuga Clan head while I, the only heir to the Hayabusa line, did not? How is that possible? I have been petitioning them for a bride for a while now...'_ Ryu wondered, his expression growing dark.

Hayate watched his long time friend leave with concern, especially after how he reacted to what Kasumi had to say. He knew that Ryu wasn't really Naruto's biggest fan, but he usually kept his mouth shut about it.

'_It might have been having his feathers ruffled by Suzumiya-san, but I know he had been asking Hiashi about a bride for over a year and had his sights set on young Hinata, as have many others, including the Inuzuka and Uchiha heirs. This would bear paying close attention to, and also informing Suzumiya-san and Hiashi-dono...'_ Hayate thought.

"Ryu was acting strange...well, stranger than usual. What kind of grudge does he have against Naruto-kun? Does this have to do with this secret of his?" Ayane wondered.

"As you know by now, I cannot tell you the truth, but yes. It does have to do with that secret. We shoud never have brought this up in front of you and caused undue worry." Hayate apologized.

"You shouldn't apologize, Hayate. He should. That Naruto is a good kid from what I've seen. Not to mention he's really a little cutie, too. Too bad he's too young for me...I bet he would be a real prize once he's grown up, though." Iroha remarked, smirking at the blush on Ayane's face.

"I'd get cracking on a strategy for snagging that boy if I were you, Ayane. If you don't, that boy may as well be married to that Hyuuga girl right now." Iroha added, adding fuel to the fire as well as lightening the mood.

"That little tart won't get the best of me! I'll show Naruto-kun how a REAL woman should be!" Ayane declared as she left the dinner table for the baths, Kasumi right behind her.

"That ought to get their minds off of this...sensitive subject." Iroha said once the girls left the room.

"Thank you, sister. Ryu put us in a very awkward position with his outburst. I would like to know what set him off like that." Hayate pondered.

"The word amongst the shinobi is that Suzumiya-kun is being touted among the very best we have after how he took out Hatake and that Hyuuga clown Koseki. I guess he thinks his reputation is being called into question. But that's not what worries me. It's how he reacted to the news that the Hyuuga heiress is dating Uzumaki-kun. That really has me worried." Iroha told her twin brother.

"I know. He hasn't acted like this since the Kyuubi attack. I'll need to watch him." Hayate told her.

Ichigo had done well in helping his younger sister's along the path to becoming good kunoichi and he saw that as doing his family a great service since he was constantly busy with Clan matters and couldn't be there to help them. He was even showing them styles that would fit them and swallowed his pride to get Ayane the help she needed with her elemental affinity and Naruto had thus far proven that he could be trusted and that he was in control as his sensei said he was.

_'If I had to choose...I choose the welfare of my family over a friend and the welfare of the ones that have helped them along. Sorry Ryu...but the Yondaime's faith in the boy was spot on and Hokage-sama was correct.'_ Hayate reasoned as he settled down for the night.

_**HYUUGA CLAN COMPOUND - MEETING ROOM**_

The Elder Council had been convened once again. It seemed that most of the Elder Council was still unconvinced of Naruto's worthiness as a possible suitor for Hinata even though he had overcome the hurdle that they dropped in his path. The mere thought of a commoner rising above and beyond really put a burr in their collective asses, especially since an unknown shinobi with an equally unknown and extremely powerful Kekkei Genkai beat the crap out of their finest warrior next to Hiashi himself. Koseki was once a possible suitor for Hinata, but that was out now, since during his hospital stay, he met a cute young nurse and they hit it off nicely. The Inuzuka and Uchiha heirs were also out, since the Uchiha was on the verge of having his license revoked and Kiba was now the world's oldest Academy student.

This evening however, a golden opportunity to rid themselves of Hinata and her plans for ridding the Hyuuga of the Curse Seal and the division of the Houses. It seemed that Hiashi had been rejecting a prominent Jounin by the name of Ryu Hayabusa's petitions for a Hyuuga bride, as he has had a fixation on Hyuuga maidens for some time now.

"Now wait just a minute here! Young Uzumaki has already earned the right to court my Granddaughter through Trail by Combat, as you wanted it! What are you up to now?" Hiromi Hyuuga asked incredulously. She liked Naruto and saw him as a breath of fresh air...not to mention that he reminded her of a certain kunoichi she knew long ago.

Young Kushina was introduced to her by Mito Uzumaki and she found the spunky redhead to be a real hoot to be around and befriended her own daughter, Hibana, and brought her out of her shell. She was there when the young woman got married to Minato Namikaze and remembered when she got pregnant. She wouldn't stop going on about how handsome her son would be and how if Hibana had a daughter, they should have them play together.

_'It's funny...how things work out. I would have loved nothing more than Kushina's little boy being with Hinata, but she died that night. However...Young Naruto acts almost exactly like her...and looks like Minato. He very well could be...but without proof, there is nothing that can be done.'_ The old woman thought sadly as the other members were deliberating.

Naruto's show of devotion to Hinata won him a few supporters on the Elder Council, like Hiashi's uncle Hito, Elders Hifumi, Himio, and Kouga, who all thought that a united Hyuuga Clan were a much stronger Hyuuga Clan...Nearly half of the council! Sadly, it wasn't enough to completely avert anything adverse that the rest of the council might try, like trying to force a union between Ryu Hayabusa and Hinata. Granted, nothing could happen between them until she turned sixteen, but she would be betrothed to the Hayabusa Head until their wedding and she would never be allowed to see Naruto again. Adding insult to injury, she would also be branded with the Caged Bird Seal, as was customary for any Hyuuga Maiden that married outside of the clan.

_'If only there was a way out of this...Kami-sama...If you are listening, please help my Granddaughter and my son-in-law.'_The old woman prayed. As if to answer her prayers, one of the neutral memebrs of the Council stood.

"Well, I believe that another trial by combat is in order." Komugi Hyuuga stated. What she really wanted was to see another fantastic fight like the last one.

"Wait...It wouldn't be fair to pit a fresh Genin like Uzumaki-san against one of the best shinobi in our village." Hito argued.

"I know that, Hito. I know that Uzumaki-san would put up a valiant fight, but it really wouldn't be sporting. I propose that he request a Jounin of his choice fight on his behalf, and Hinata's." Komugi suggested.

Hiromi sighed. _'At least there will be a fighting chance...'_

"We will need to inform all parties necessary. The fight will be in one months time and will be fought two on two. This meeting is adjourned." The lead elder, who was also neutral, declared.

"But...That is right before the Chuunin Exams!" Hifumi exclaimed.

"I know, but this matter must be resolved soon. That is all." The head elder decreed as he stood and left.

"We all know what we must do." Hiromi told the rest of Naruto's supporters as they all nodded to each other and left the meeting room.

_**ONE MONTH LATER...**_

It's been a month since that day...So much has happened. First, we come to the Tenshin Clan and the falling out they had...

_**FLASHBACK... DAY AFTER THE HYUUGA MEETING**_

_"Ryu...Do you know what you've done?" Hayate asked as calmly as he could._

_"Yes. I have ensured the continuation of my line as well as adding the Byakugan to it. With the daughter of the strongest recorded Hyuuga in history, a strong heir is assured." Ryu said as if he were talking about the weather._

_"First, she is as young as my baby sisters. Second, she is one of the best friends that Kasumi has ever had and helped in breathing some confidence into her. Lastly, you just want her because Uzumaki-san managed to do what you could not, gain the favor of the Hyuuga Clan Head. I never thought you would stoop to this..." Hayate stated, his gaze narrowing._

_"Think what you like, but I will not stand down. I will fight Uzumaki-san for her hand. As far as Kasumi is concerned, I fear that she is not cut out to be a kunoichi." Ryu shot back._

_"He is only 12, Ryu! A Genin fresh from the Academy! This fight will not be a fair one...Not in the very least!" Hayate exclaimed. It was very rare that he ever raised his voice._

_"On the subject of my sister, she is very capable for being a kunoichi. She has the potential and Kurenai-san will further draw out that talent." Hayate defended._

_"Age is irrelevent. He is an aknowledged shinobi of Konoha, an adult in the eyes of the law, especially due to what he is." Ryu shot back._

_"Wait a minute...Is this because of what he contains?" Hayate asked , his suspicions aroused. The Hayabusa were always demon hunters and the Kyuubi, even it's container, would be seen as a target._

_"You know the traditions of my clan. I have stayed my hand out of deference to Sandaime-sama, but I will not allow a demon to block my ambitions. Good day." Ryu told them as he left._

_Iroha heard the whole thing and entered the room. "I heard that. It's been years since you've yelled at anyone outside of battle."_

_Hayate sighed as he lowered his head. It had been twelve years since he last lost his composure, since the Kyuubi tragedy that nearly wiped out his clan. Yet...Since that talk that fateful night with the Sandaime, he didn't hold it against Naruto. He felt that it must have been hard, being used as a living sacrifice to save the village and being seen as tainted and unholy for your troubles._

_"I will fulfill my duties to my family and my village. Naruto is our treasure, our Yondaime's final legacy and gift to this village. He deserves this more than Ryu does and it's time that I did more than vote neutral regarding his welfare. Yes...He deserves far better that what we have given him..." Hayate declared._

_"If that's how you feel, brother, I will support you. Ayane won't like this, but I can see what you are trying to say." Iroha declared, smirking at her twin._

_"Thank you, Iroha. I fear that we may have turbulent times ahead of us. We must band together as a family if we are to endure it." Hayate confided in her._

_**END FLASHBACK**_

Now...We come to how the Rookie Teams took this information...

_**HERE WE GO, DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE...**_

_A Hyuuga Clan messenger came to Team 7's training ground while at the same time, another found Team 8 and both delivered their missives dutifully._

_"WHAT?" Was the shared reply between the teams, minus Shino, of course._

_"What the...? How?" Kurenai spluttered while Kasumi's eyes narrowed. She now knew how Ryu took what she told him a couple of nights ago._

_"What? How could they do this to us?" Hinata whispered as she started to tear up. She had some questions for her father._

_"Hinata, this wasn't entirely your clan's doing." Kasumi revealed._

_"What? What do you mean?" Kurenai asked, a slight edge to her voice._

_"What I mean is, my older brother's friend, Ryu Hayabusa, took something I said harshly." Kasumi was beginning to explain._

_"What could you have possibly said to warrant this kind of response?" Shino asked._

_"He was about to mention something about why Naruto-san has such potent chakra when my brother cut him off, saying that the reason was classified. Ryu then told us that we, Ayane and I, should be careful with associating with him due to our clan status, that it would bring us trouble when Ayane came to Naruto-san's defense. I then blurted out that Hinata's father had approved of him, then he went quiet, stood up, and left suddenly. Now I know what he was doing. Hinata, I'm so sorry. I had no idea that he would pull this." Kasumi apologized after she finished explaining._

_Kurenai had been on missions with Ryu before, and found him to be a frigid person, very aloof. He had this air of superiority about him, almost like he was nobility of some kind. Granted, the Hayabusa were also known as the Dragon Clan and were able to rival the Uchiha and the Hyuuga in skill in combat. What she hadn't known was the deep rooted resentment lurking within him and his desire for a Hyuuga bride, more specifically Hinata. _

_'It sounded like he resents Naruto-kun for being able to do what he and every other heir and caller couldn't...earn the right to court Hinata from Hiashi himself. It must really burn him up to see not only a commoner, but the Kyuubi bearer to boot, get something that has been sought after since Hinata was in the Academy, her favor. However, Hinata has had her heart set on Naruto since I can remember.'_ _Kurenai recapped in her mind._

_"The rules state that there must be two to a team to fight? Consider me to be the first fighter, Hinata." Kurenai declared._

_"K-Kurenai-sensei? You would fight for me?" Hinata asked hopefully._

_"Yes. I've been watching over you since I was a Chuunin and I see you as a niece, part of my family. There's no way that I wouldn't fight for you." The crimson-eyed kunoichi stated._

_Meanwhile with Team 7..._

_"Damn that jerk...What the hell is his damage?" Ichigo growled._

_"I think I know what set this in motion..." Ayane offered as she explained what happened a couple of nights ago while she and her family were eating dinner._

_"Man...I thought that guy sounded like a jerk before, but now...He sounds like another Sasuke, minus the bi-polar tendencies." Sakura commented._

_"Yeah...What an asshole...If he's so popular, can't he find his own girlfriend and NOT try to steal mine?" Naruto grumbled._

_"Well, Ryu had been badgering the Hyuuga for a bride for some time now and now he's jealous of you, Naruto-kun." Ayane answered._

_"For the same reasons Kiba-teme is, probably...Man, life just doesn't stop, does it?" Naruto commented._

_Saki wasn't terribly impressed with this guy, either. He passed himself off as a demon hunter and killer, but they always killed even the peaceful ones, too. She remembered a clan like his long ago that hunted her kind and killed many, just because they were supernatural beings._

_**"That arrogant hunter had better count his lucky stars that I'M not the one he will face...I would make sure to enjoy sending him into the Shinigami's belly."**__ The Vixen snarled._

_'Man...This really pissed you off, huh? Did something like that happen to you before you got sealed in me?' Naruto asked._

_**"I'll tell you later, Naruto-chan...Once you are sleeping, I'll tell you more."**__ Saki told her vessel as she faded away again._

_"First this jerk tried to start a pissing match with me, now he's getting pissy just because Hinata actually LIKES Naruto and managed to get Hiashi the Hardass to accept him? I'll CREAM that shithead!" Ichigo snarled, grinding his right fist into his left palm while gritting his teeth._

_"Wait a minute...Does that mean...?" Sakura began to ask, getting a strange feeling that he was about to throw himself head first into battle again._

_"Yep! I'll fill one of the slots to fight! I hope that bastard's medical insurance is paid up, 'cause he's gonna need it!" The tall Jounin roared as he stood up._

_"Hold up, sensei...I want you to promise...PROMISE me...That you'll be careful and try not to lower any property values." Sakura stressed. She knew he could get a bit...destructive when he got into the groove of things, kind of like a tornado getting buck wild in a trailer park._

_"Geez...You make me sound like a demon of destruction and poverty or something..." Ichigo grumbled, making his students laugh and lightening the mood a bit._

_"Yeah, teach! I still remember the first match you had with the Cyclops and that other pansy! It looked like you threw them into a shredder!" Naruto added._

_"Let's not forget the training sessions that end up with us playing "Dodge or Die"." Ayane pitched in._

_"Am I really that bad?" He asked meekly._

_"Yeah...But that's just part of your charm, sensei! We wouldn't have it any other way." Sakura admitted, throwing an arm around each of her teammates._

_"Thanks guys...That actually means a lot, y'know?" The massive blond said bashfully with a goofy grin to match._

_"You may be a big goofball, but you're our sensei and we know that you'd go to the ends of the earth for us. Go get that pompous jerk and give 'im the works!" Ayane cheered._

_"Yeah! I know I can't fight with you this time, but mess that pretty boy bastard up real good! I have faith in you and I know Hina-chan does, too." Naruto told him as the team got on with their training for the day as planned. The only change was that it wasn't target practice. He had them all come at him with everything they had while he was the target for a change._

_Later on at Soyokaze's..._

_"Ugh! That chauvinistic ass!" Kurenai snarled as she slammed down another Sake. She had been by the Hyuuga estate with Hinata to discuss what had happened and to throw her hat into the ring to fight for her, which Hiashi was extremely grateful for._

_He related to her the terms of the marriage agreement and she found herself utilizing every bit of restraint she could muster to keep from tracking the bastards that wrote this garbage up and put them through a Genjutsu induced Hell on Earth. It stated that once she was married to the head of the Hayabusa, she was basically his property and had no rights. She was little more than a baby factory until she couldn't reproduce anymore, on top of having the Caged Bird Seal and being banished from the Clan._

_She told Anko of the details and she had to held back from going Apocolyptic on their asses. She never liked Ryu either. On one mission, he was always reminding her that he was in charge and of her past...Not the smartest thing to do._

_Asuma wasn't much happier. "It sounds like slavery. I thought we were above that in this day and age." He grumbled._

_"So...I guess I was right to throw my hat in the ring." A voice called out from the entrance. They all turned to see Ichigo._

_"You did, too?" Kurenai asked._

_"Wait a minute...You're not seriously thinking about doing this, are you?" Asuma asked, earning him a withering glare._

_"Are you trying to say that I CAN'T do it?" Kurenai asked, her crimson eyes narrowed. She worked long and hard to come this far and she wouldn't let anyone call her skills into questions without irrefutable proof._

_"N-no! I-I didn't mean...I'll shut up now!" Asuma said quickly, averting her wrath._

_"Well...I guess we're a team then, Kurenai! Let's give that asshole and whoever he chose as a partner the ass-kicking of a lifetime!" Ichigo grinned._

_"Yes...I suggest that we have our teams train together so we can work on our teamwork. How does that sound?" Kurenai suggested._

_"Sounds good! That way, we can all hang out!" Anko cheered._

_"Alright. After I'm done here, I'm swinging by the Hyuuga Compund to talk with Hiashi and tell him that I'm game." Ichigo told his fellow instructors and girlfriend._

_At Hyuuga Manor..._

_The night wound down, seeing him on his way to the Hyuuga Compound. The guards there recognised him and let him pass without any trouble, one of them even guiding him to Hiashi's study._

_"Hey, anybody home?" He asked as he knocked on the door._

_"I am here, Suzumiya-san. What is it that you require at this hour?" The Hyuuga lord asked._

_"I heard about this new development and I want in. I'll teach that arrogant prick who he's dealing with and make sure he never bothers you again." Ichigo told him seriously._

_Hiashi felt a wave of relief wash over him. 'If Suzumiya-san is fighting in our corner, we can rest easier. Now that Kurenai-san is fighting alongside him for Hinata's sake, she will be very pleased.'_ _He thought._

_"Hinata will be thrilled to know that you are willing to fight on her behalf." A grateful Hiashi told the tall Jounin._

_"I bet she would. Well, I'd better get home now and get some rest. I need to train for this as well as train my team for the Exams." He told Hiashi._

_"Oh? You are entering them into the Chuunin Exams?" Hiashi inquired._

_"Yeah...I figured that since they'll be here, it would be the best time for them to get some experience while we have the home field advantage." He explained._

_"I see your point. Very sound logic." Hiashi admitted._

_The two men bade each other farewell for the night, but the meeting was eavesdropped on by two different parties._

_One of them was delighted that he was going to fight for her sister and left to tell her the good news. The other one, however, frowned at the news._

_"Lord Hayabusa will not be pleased with this news. The Genjutsu Mistress and the Storm Bringer are to be his opponents. He will have to choose his partner well to have a chance of victory." The voice, clearly female, whispered as she lept away into the night to inform her master._

_Later that night..._

_Back at the Uzumaki/Suzumiya Complex, everyone was sleeping fitfully after having such a full and aggravating day. Haku had been informed as to what was happening and suddenly the whole room looked like it had been in a deep freeze. Haku only let her control slip that bad if she was really, REALLY, pissed off and that she was. Even with Zabuza, she had never been subjected to such a chauvinistic viewpoint before...well, there was that incident with Kiba back when she first arrived, but he was harmless once she smacked him around like a bad monkey._

_After finally getting her calmed and getting the room defrosted, they went to bed and Naruto to have a serious talk with his tenant. For a few moments, he wandered the dark, dank hallways of his mind until he finally made it to Saki's area of his mind, which now looked more like a traditional Japanese room than a cold, dark prison. Seeing tatami mats on the ground, Naruto just shrugged and removed his sandals._

_Saki was already in her humanoid form and sitting down at a table, waiting for him to arrive._

_**"Naruto-chan, you came. Good."**__ Saki greeted her host._

_"Yeah, I did, Saki-chan. So what did you want to tell me?" He asked her._

_"__**I wanted to reveal to you what it is about that Hayabusa clan that I loath..." **__Saki started as she began to weave the tale of how she was captured in the first place._

_**"It was long ago, long before even your society even took root. I was no more than a Kitsune spirit that lived in a small forest near a major city. In my time, the world's technology was vastly superior to this world and ninja were very few, capable ones even fewer. The Hayabusa clan were demon hunters and killers by trade. They hunted down my kind and many others like us, "Exterminating" us so that humans wouldn't feel threatened. Some humans were encroaching on the small patch of forest that my family and I resided in, so we tried to drive them away with our illusions. The Hayabusa were called in to clear us out of our ancestral home for centuries. My clan was brutally murdered by the Hayabusa and I was taken captive by a group of greedy humans that wanted to exploit the power of spirits. That led to how I was reborn as the Kyuubi no Kitsune that I am known as today."**__Saki explained, unable to keep the tears from her eyes as she continued._

_**"My mother and father...my younger siblings...my whole FAMILY...All of them MURDERED! We did NOTHING to deserve being slaughtered like mindless animals!"**__She raged, her chakra flaring wildly._

_Naruto moved in and took her into an embrace in an attempt to calm her down._

_"I'm...sorry, Saki-chan. I-I didn't know..." Naruto stammered._

_Saki relented her power and felt his arms around her, trying to comfort her. She slowly wrapped her arms around the human child she had come to adore, taking in whatever comfort she could._

_**"Thank you, Naruto-chan...Thank you."**__ She thanked him as she got her emotions back under control._

_"So...You weren't always the Kyuubi...Humans MADE you the way you are...They were the ones that attacked you first. All of the legends were wrong about you...I knew it!" Naruto told her cheerily._

_Saki couldn't believe her ears, but deep down, she knew that Naruto would understand, just like Ichigo did. They were both discriminated against by ignorant humans, just like herself._

_**'If only I'd met you or Ichigo-kun sooner...I would have taken either of you as my mate. I only hope Ichigo-kun can stop him from stealing your mate from you, Naru-chan.'**__ The nine tailed vixen thought wistfully. She was, however, content with her current lot in life._

_The two stayed together all thought the night, talking and just keeping each other company until morning came._

_**DAMN...THAT WAS A LONG FLASHBACK!**_

_**CHUUNIN EXAM STADIUM**_

Yep...A lot of shit went down in the village due to the actions of one person. Even Kiba was trying to worm himself into the running for Hinata again, but his mother was firmly against it. Instead, she put a tracking and punishment collar on him so that she would be aware of his whereabouts at all times, especially after he tried to lash out at Hana.

Also, Kakashi and Sasuke were oddly silent, due to the fact that the council had them staying at an old ANBU training facility, so that Kakashi could train him even more. They already had plans to bypass the first and second stages of the Exams, mainly because one would need a team for that and they found no teams or sensei willing to take him on after he made an ass out of himself during his match against Naruto.

Well, the day of the duel had arrived and everyone had gathered into the Chuunin Exam Stadium to see what kind of battle they would bear witness to this time. Many were eager to catch a glimpse of the abilities of the one they dubbed _"The Storm Bringer"_, combined with the talents of the _"Genjutsu Mistress"_. They knew that one of their opponents was the _"Super Ninja"_, Ryu Hayabusa, but they were still in the dark as to who his partner would be. Some thought that he had contacted Kakashi Hatake, thinking that Kakashi would jump at the chance to save face after his humiliating defeat.

Up in the VIP Seats, Hinata and her family, along with the Hokage, were all sitting and waiting for the match to get underway. The official, Asuma, again, was down in the arena waiting for the go ahead to start introductions.

We now head over to the staging area where our two Jounin sensei are making their final preparations, Shino and Kasumi were looking over Kurenai while Naruto, Sakura, and Ayane were overlooking their sensei.

Ayane had to admit that her sensei was really well built and muscled without it looking out of proportion for his tall frame. She told him that his tattoos made him look even more intimidating, especially his Roman Numeral brand. She complimented the fact that he left his arms bare, just wearing a tank top under his vest and having his sword poking out just over his shoulder.

Kurenai had made a change to her usual clothes, opting for the same bare arm look as her partner, but with a black kunoichi skirt and mesh under armor. Naruto made the final contribution to her equipment, loaning her the kodachi that Ichigo had given to him after the Bridge incident, so that she would have an extra weapon, just in case.

"Just remember about this guy...The Hayabusa are famed for their Kenjutsu and Taijutsu, this guy exceeding at both. His blade is known as the Dragon Blade, said to be able to cut through anything it hits. As for his partner, no one knows who it is or could be. Be careful, both of you." Anko told her best friend and her lover both.

The time had finally come for them to take the field. They nodded to each other and performed a tandem Body Flicker onto the field, ready to take on whomever as put before them.

"CITIZENS AND SHINOBI OF KONOHA! YOU ALL KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE, BUT LET ME INTRODUCE THEM ANYWAY! JUST NOW FLICKERING ONTO THE FIELD, WE HAVE THE STORM BRINGER ICHIGO SUZUMIYA AND GENJUTSU MISTRESS KURENAI YUUHI, FIGHTING ON THE BEHALF OF HINATA HYUUGA!" Asuma, who was Master of Ceremonies as well as the official for the duel, stated.

"NOW, IN THIS CORNER...WE HAVE THE LAST SCION OF THE HAYABUSA CLAN AND DRAGON NINJS RYU HAYABUSA AND HIS PARTNER, AGEHA SHINGUJI, KNOWN AS HELL'S PRINCESS! THEY WILL BE FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO WED THE HYUUGA HEIRESS!" Asuma announced, surprised as all hell as to who Kurenai would likely be fighting.

Ageha Shinguji was known as a hardened killer, a woman with even fewer scruples than Anko and Ibiki combined who throughly loved to inflict pain. So much so, it was said that she derived sexual pleasure from the screams of her victims. She was also known to be lightning fast it her movements and her Taijutsu style targeted the joints and major nerve clusters of her opponents, inflicting mind shredding amounts of pain. She was a woman just under Kurenai's height, wearing a blood red mid riff and a matching skirt with meshing, had deep brown hair in a bob cut and cat like features accompanying her amber eyes. All in all, a beautiful, but deadly and nigh insane woman.

Anko's eyes narrowed in disgust for the woman. Kurenai knew of her, too, if her Ki was any indicator. Anko had been chosen over her to be Ibiki's protege while Kurenai was chosen to become a Jounin over her. Ageha always went way too far with her interrogation victims, often not giving them a chance to talk due to her psycho-sexual frenzies. That lead to her being kicked out of the T and I Corps, with her later being kicked out of the ANBU for the exact same thing. She had hung up her head band for a while until Ryu contacted her a month ago, offering her a tidy sum to be his partner for an upcoming match, leading to this very day. It wasn't like anyone else wanted to face the Storm Bringer head on.

Ageha looked over her opposition. She knew of Kurenai and while she thought very little of the Ice Queen, she was licking her chops at Kurenai's partner.

_'Mmmm...Now THERE'S some prime meat. I wonder if his screams of pain will send me into a thrashing orgasm?'_She wondered fiendishly as Asuma went over the rules.

"This will be no holds barred. You will stop on my signal, upon knock out, admission of defeat, or death. Am I clear?" Asuma stated, more to Ageha than anyone in particular.

All parties nodded to the affirmative, in agreeance with the rules.

"Two new and juicy victims...I'm almost _dripping_at the mere thought of it..." Ageha breathed, her psycho-sexual tendencies beginning to appear.

"Remember that you work for me, Ageha." Ryu chided.

"Tch...You're no fun..." She scoffed.

"You ready, Kurenai?" Ichigo asked.

"Born ready. Let's rock their worlds." Kurenai replied with a steely voice.

_**"FIGHT!"**_

The fighters lept into each other, met with an initial clash, then backed off to gauge each other.

"I knew that Uzumaki-san would beg you to fight in his stead." Ryu scoffed.

"He didn't beg me, you high and mighty bastard. I volunteered the moment I heard about this little farce you tried to pull, as did Kurenai." Ichigo countered.

"So, he knew the limits of his strength after all. No demon can stand against the Hayabusa and live." Ryu shotback, a smug look crossing his face.

"Naruto is still a child, you jerk. What kind of sick freak gets off on feeling superior of a twelve year old rookie Genin?" Ichigo asked.

"No matter...I shall enjoy testing mysef against you, Suzumiya. I will be the top Jounin in this village once again and you will fade back into the obscurity you came from." Ryu said, drawing his blade.

"Bring it on, pretty boy! I'll rip your pansy ponytail off and make you eat it!" Ichigo roared, drawing his Viper's Tail for the first time since the Bridge in Wave.

The two disappeared in a flash of speed and steel, their movements only able to be tracked by the sparks flying from their blades, until they stopped again.

"H-how? My blade can cut through anything! Why will it not cut yours?" The Dragon Ninja asked, bewildered and angry.

"I dunno...Maybe it's special." Ichigo taunted as they clashed again.

Ageha was constantly trying to lock up with Kurenai to employ her techniques, but thus far, the crimson eyed woman had her kept at bay thanks to Naruto's kodachi. Ageha wanted to end this fight quickly, because since she had went on hiatus she had lost some of her conditioning and only a month's worth of training wasn't enough to bring her back to where she was.

"Dammit...Hold still!" Ageha snarled.

"Like hell I will!" Kurenai fired right back as she lashed out again with the kodachi to keep her from getting too close. She could tell that her opponent was beginning to wear down and it wouldn't be much longer until she could muster the time she needed to cast one of her potent genjutsu.

Ageha was getting tired of chasing her, so she lashed out with ninjutsu instead.

_**DOTON : ISHISAKU!**_

Kurenai was alarmed at all of the rocks flying in her direction, but maintained her calm as she launched a counter jutsu. She had to be careful and reserve some chakra for her Genjutsu, but a quick defensive jutsu would do the trick.

_**RAITON : RAIRYUUDAN!**_

A wall of sheer electricity erupted around her to block the projectiles, but some of them still made it through. She was preparing to use the Kawarimi until the rocks pulverized by a concussive wind blast from her partner, saving her the trouble. As she turned to thank him, she saw Ryu bearing down on him, so she launched a salvo of kunai and shuriken at him to make him back off, showing good teamwork.

"Hn...Why waste your time covering for her when you have me to deal with?" Ryu sniffed, getting into a sword stance.

"We're partners and friends...It comes with the territory." Ichigo answered simply as he lunged in with an overhead strike.

"Why bother trying to beat me? If not Hinata-sama, maybe I'll try for that girl that lives with you." Ryu taunted, trying to goad him into making a mistake, but he was the one that really fucked up.

Up in the stands, Haku was beginning to turn the air around her into ice.

"YOU JERK! I'D RATHER SLIT MY THROAT THAT BE WITH A CREEP LIKE YOU!" The local Yuki-onna bellowed out. Guys like him were a major turn off for her. She wanted guys more like Zabuza or Ichigo, her adoptive father and uncle respectively, or even like Naruto. However, she was snapped out of her musings when she felt the air pressure around them take a nose dive, then explode.

Hurricane force winds began whipping all around the stadium, a dark blue aura surrounding the blond as he seemed to levitate along with the winds, a vicious and enraged expression on his face. Dark storm clouds began to gather over the stadium like some ill omen. This human made phenomenon caused both of their opponents to freeze. Neither Ryu nor Ageha had never seen or faced a power of this magnitude before.

_**"How DARE you threaten my family? I'll crush you where you stand!"**_ The enraged human weapon bellowed as he launched blast after blast of air and water at the supposed Super Ninja, who was too busy trying to dodge rather than fight back.

Ageha was still rooted to her spot in sheer terror. "Wh-what is he? A m-monster?" She babbled out as she tried to move, but found herself caught in a powerful Genjutsu cast by Kurenai.

_**MAGEN : JIBAKU SATSU!**_

Kurenai had her in her most potent and potentially deadly Genjutsu of her own design. Since Ageha was distracted and out of shape, all Kurenai had to do was knock her out cold and that was all she wrote fo Hell's Princess.

Back within the miniature storm, Ryu was still busy dodging for his life, trying to weave through the hailstorm of projectiles when he attempted to defend and counter attack with an array of Doton jutsu.

_**DOTON : IWADO YARI!**_

A forest of rocky spears erupted from the ground to impale his opponent, but it only served to enrage him further as he weaved his way though the stone forest and engaged Ryu with Taijutsu when he kicked the sword from Ryu's hand and into the stands.

The blue haze had died down, but the blond's attacks were still coming in fast and furious as Ryu struggled under his sheer power and speed.

"So...You are some kind of demon or monster yourself? I guess beings such as you really stick together." Ryu commented.

"That's it! I've had enough of you!" Ichigo hollared as he doubled him over with a sucker punch to the gut, smacked him with an uppercut, then finished him with a street brawler style move when he grabbed his shoulders and laid the mighty Super Ninja out with a vicious headbutt that threatened to cave his face in.

The crowd went dead silent. Ryu's Hyuuga supporters and his fangirls sat agape at the way their idol was defeated while the rest of the crowd began to cheer wildly.

"Man...That was awesome!" One man stated

"I know! I nearly crapped myself when that storm kicked up!" The shinobi next to him agreed.

"With Jounin sensei like Suzumiya and Yuuhi, our Genin are gonna kick some ass at the Exams!" Another, elder shinobi exclaimed.

Up in the stands, Sarutobi smirked at the display of teamwork between the two sensei, who had shown all of the young Genin present how professional shinobi fight in teams do it. The council was in an uproar again, but he quickly shut them up with a quick burst of Ki.

"Ryu just had to say those things..." Hayate sighed.

"That meathead just won't learn, will he?" Iroha asked her brother.

"I guess he won't. He'll be insufferable now that he's lost his prize. He already knows that you, Ayane, and Kasumi are off limits, but I wonder if that alone will stop him?" Hayate wondered.

"Don't worry yourself about us. We don't even like that meathead. We only tolerated him for your sake. He was your only friend for a long time and we couldn't take that away from you. We really do care about, bro." Iroha told her twin.

"Thanks...sis." Hayate thanked her, breaching his ettiquet for the first time in years.

Hiashi and his family stood and gave them a standing ovation, along with Naruto's supporters while Hinata vaulted down to the arena floor to the two sensei that saved her again, their teams close behind.

Shino was just glad his sensei came through this vicious fight without getting seriously hurt. Kasumi was awe struck by seeing her new sensei in actual combat and found herself with a new appreciation for Kurenai's skills.

Naruto and Sakura were no strangers to the amounts of property damage their sensei could cause, not to mention the fact that they've seen him cut loose before, but this one was a doozy. Ayane, who hadn't seen him angry, never, NEVER, wanted to piss him off after this.

"At least the damage to the stadium was light." Sakura commented.

"You call this LIGHT?" Ayane exclaimed.

"Yeah...considering what we've seen him do before. He could have stomped this place flat if he wanted to." Naruto added.

"But...Why didn't he go all out from the beginning? Let him have it with both barrels?" Ayane questioned.

"I actually LIVE with the guy, so I might have a pretty good idea as to why. He just wanted to humiliate this guy, just to make a point. You see, arrogant people rub him the wrong way. That's why this guy was the unlucky target of his wrath. When he's like that, it's like Nature itself wants to kill you." Haku explained from behind them, her usual genial smile on her face.

"Haku-nee! Jeez...You scared me..." Naruto gasped. She had a bad habit of sneaking up on people even though she doesn't mean it.

"Um...Naruto-kun? Who is she?" Ayane asked, afraid of yet another rival.

"Oh! I totally forgot to introduce you to her! She's my older sister, Haku!" Naruto introduced her.

_'Alright! If I can score some points with the big sister, that'll make swiping him that much easier! Score!'_Ayane cheered inwardly, a chibi-Ayane doing a dance in her head.

No sooner than she thought those things, however, her bane made her way over to the object of her affections, Hinata.

"NARU-KUN!" She cried as they embraced each other tightly and happily.

Ayane looked on, feeling a little bittersweet. She was glad that he was happy, but she wanted to be the one that he was hugging.

More than that though, she was damn proud of her sensei for what he accomplished. Ryu Hayabusa was said to be unbeatable. Even Kakashi wasn't able to beat him WITH his Sharingan. Her sensei just went buck wild after Ryu threatened him with something she couldn't hear and ripped him apart, even ending the fight like one would a bar room brawl.

_'I'll have to remember that move...'_ She thought.

The Hyuuga Council Head made his way down to the arena floor to announce the decision and will of the council.

"As agreed upon with the victory of those that fought in Lady Hinata's stead, the motion to wed her to the scion of the Hayabusa clan is hereby annulled. Furthermore, the motion to also brand her with the Caged Bird Seal is also annulled. I personally offer my congratulations to the victors and bid you all a good day." The Council leader announced cordially as he made his way back to the Clan Compound, the rest of the elders folowing his lead, minus Elder Hiromi. She walked up to the two warriors for a moment, then hugged them both.

"Thank you...Both of you, for fighting for my Granddaughter's fate and happiness. If the Hyuuga Clan can do anything for you, anything...Do not hesitate to ask." Hiromi offered, Hiashi offerign the same.

"The Yuuhi and Suzumiya families will be looked upon as honored allies in the eyes of my clan from this day forth, as well any descendants they may bring forth." Hiashi told the two Jounin.

"Really? That's...actually pretty cool. I mean, ya can never have too many allies, right?" Anko asked.

"Yes. That is quite correct, Mitarashi-san." Hiashi told her, Hiromi asking her to lean in.

"That just might extend to you, too. He seems like a keeper, dearie." The Hyuuga Elder quipped, drawing a goofy grin on the face of the Snake Princess.

"Damn right!" She cheered.

"Good girl. I knew you had a lick of sense in you." Hiromi commended on her choice in men as she headed back to the main house herself.

Teams 7 and 8 all decided to head out to celebrate their victory at Shushuya's, fully intending on pigging out to their hearts content.

_**DOWN IN THE MEDICAL WING...**_

In the stadium's medical wing, Ryu and Ageha finally woke up from their impromptu slumber, Ryu nursing a broken nose and a couple of crack ribs and Ageha one hell of a headache to go with various shallow cuts from Kurenai's kodachi.

"I've never met a person with that kind of power...Just what is he?" Ryu whispered.

"I can answer that." A voice called out from the door.

"Hatake...Come to gloat? Don't bother. Your performance against him was even more pathetic than mine." Ryu snapped.

"Hey now...I just came to offer you an alliance. Maybe if we work together, we can take that bastard down." Kakashi offered.

"Hmm...That idea has some merit. The Hayabusa name has been rubbed into the mud with this defeat and his demise would help restore a measure of it's honor." Ryu surmised as he turned to Ageha.

"Will you be joining us? I'll increase your pay." Ryu enticed.

"Oh, HELL no! No way! I don't want any part of this! That guy's like some kind of force of nature! You'd have to be STUPID to try and do that again!" Ageha yelled at them as she inched toward the door.

Kakashi was in front of her in a heart beat, his Sharingan revealed.

"Oh...That's too bad." He said simply as he used his implanted eye to cast a memory block jutsu on her, to ensure that she wouldn't speak of this to anyone. Once he was sure that it took, they left her there in the cot as they left to plan and plot.

_**A DAY'S TRAVEL FROM KONOHA...**_

A curious group of women were proceeding down the road that made a beeline for Konoha. One had long blond hair done in twin pigtails with a rather generous bust. The second was a brunette with bobbed hair with a modest black kimono and was holding a pig. The final one had bobbed brown hair with twin rectangular markings on her cheeks.

"We're finally going back to Konoha...It's been so long since the last time I saw any of my friends." Shizune piped up, trying to start a conversation, but the other two women left the village on rather bad terms.

Both Tsunade and Rin had left the village due to the only one holding them there being dead. Rin had promised Kushina to be there for Naruto while Tsunade was supposed to be his Godmother, but both were lied to that night. They were now on their way back to right some wrongs and make up for lost time.

_'I really owe that pervert one for making sensei cough up the truth...Little Naru-chan is alive...I have to meet this Ichigo and thank him for all that he's done so far.'_Tsunade thought.

_'That jerk Kakashi's gonna get a piece of my mind once I get back there...'_Rin fumed angrily as she unconsciously increased her pace. She had been briefed on his less that reputable behaivor

_'Uh oh...Konoha's in for a rude awakening once we get back...'_Shizune thought as she sighed, Tonton mimicking her.

"Hey! Hurry up, Shizune! I wanna give that decrepit old monkey a piece of my mind and I've been sober for too long!" Tsunade called out, herself and Rin already leaving her in the dust.

"Alright, alright..." Shizune sighed as she picked up the pace in following them back to her home.

_A/N: Oh shit...The shit has officially hit the fan. The council will start shitting themselves upon learning that Tsunade is back and she's pissed as hell at them. Kakashi will get the reunion he's been wanting, but Rin's going to let him have it once she sees him and he won't be getting off light, either! _

_Anyway...The duel situation here is how nobles in Ancient Japan and even in the Western world during feudal times handled things. The reason why Ichigo and Kurenai stepped in was because they didn't believe that it was fair...Naruto isn't some super-powerful force of nature...well, not yet...and he's only a Genin who only has maybe a six months of decent training. He's improving at an astonishing rate, but he's still no match of a shinobi of Ryu's caliber. He will still need Ichigo's help for many things. As for anyone saying that this is getting O.C. centric, he IS a major part of this fic, since he is the one that started it all, so to speak in the fic's universe. As for Ageha...I made her up, so sue me. I DID borrow from Ikki Tousen's Ryoumou Shimei for her psycho-sexual frenzies and fighting style. _

_Also, for all of those Canon freaks out there...This is fanfiction! FANfiction! That means people WILL screw with the timeline and/or events in an attempt at something unique and we authors expend all of this effort and time for your enjoyment!_

_That is all...You may proceed with your day._


	18. Chapter 18

_Okay...Chapter 18 is now ready for you mental consumption. I have to say...Trying to get this chapter cranked out was like having a mental bowel blockage. A nearly five month mental crap...I hope that it meets with everyone's approval and doesn't diappoint. If you want a re-cap...Please read back a few chapters._

_**TWO WEEKS AFTER THE MATCH...**_

It had been a full two weeks since the match that sent Ryu packing and the village had seemed to cool down a bit. Any thoughts of payback from Ryu's supporters died a horrible death after they saw what Naruto's sensei was truly capable of when he tore the Hayabusa heir a new asshole, not to mention Hinata's sensei being no less capable a kunoichi herself, so they were left alone. Even Naruto's enemies on the Hyuuga council had fallen silent out of sheer disbelief that they had been bested once again, on top of a couple more of their number either turning nuetral toward or in favor of Hinata as the heiress. Now, their influence was negligible at best.

Moving along, Ryu had suddenly disappeared from the hospital room that he and his partner shared, but left her behind. Ageha was put under the influence of a powerful memory blocking Genjutsu that when they tried to remove it, it resulted in a near total memory erasure. Not even the Yamanaka could completely rebuild her shattered mind, so she would have to stay in the mental ward of the hospital for years to come if she had any chance at fully regaining her memory and remembering what happened and who did it.

Since today was theirs to do what they wished with it and Hinata was availiable, she and Sakura dragged Naruto with them to help them with their purchases with Hanabi wanting to tag along. He was currently playing with the Konohamaru gang when they walked up. Moegi was delighted to go and Udon managed to run, but Naruto held Konohamaru by his collar to kept him from escaping. The arragement worked out perfectly for the girls, since Moegi and Hanabi had the Sandaime's Grandson to kick around for a day.

Haku also had a day off and was invited to go on a pampering spree with a few other nurses she had befriended at the hospital. Apparently, two of the older nurses, Yuki and Konata, had bet on the match and made out like bandits, so they wanted to spread it around a bit. It had been just shy of...never, that she ever got to spoil herself like this and she'd be damned if she let this opportunity slide. They were going start out with a trip to a Day Spa and they were going to get the works. That included wraps, manicures, pedicures, full body massage, Facials, Heat Threapy, and mud packs. Next, they were hitting a Hair Salon to get treatments, capping off the day with a visit to a trendy cafe.

Now, we come to Ichigo and Anko. They started out with just walking around the village, hitting grub joints and indulging a bit before moving on. With how active they were _**(In more ways than one...)**_, the weight would never be an issue. Soon, they moved on to catching an action flick that had a man who bore a very disturbing resemblance to a cross between Gai and Bruce Lee with a large afro and a handle bar mustache, wearing an yellow version of Gai's suit with black stripes. Afterwards, they continued to walk about without having to really care about anything and enjoying it...Until they were summoned to the Hokage's office...

_**AN HOUR EARLIER...**_

Tsunade and her small posse had rooled up to the gates of the village and were not happy about what had happened to them a couple clicks out from the gates and they were demanding to see the Hokage. Koutetsu and Izumo were at a complete loss as to why she showed up out of the blue the way she did and who could have attacked her, but that was her business with the Hokage, not theirs.

"We do have to ask, though, who is this woman in the cowl?" Koutetsu asked.

"She's with me and she's a Konoha kunoichi. That should be good enough for now. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an old monkey to..._talk_ to." Tsunade growled as they stomped into the village.

All around them as they walked though the village, there were some that murmured that she had come to help dispose of the demon child, which incited her wrath in a near instant as she grabbed the man by his collar and dangled him before her.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" She snarled at him, her feminine rage coming out in full force.

"N-nothing, Tsunade-sama!" The man stammered and cowered as she released him, the faint smell of excrement following him as they proceeded on theur way to the Hokage's office.

Tsunade was also trying to keep an eye out for her newly discovered Godson, as well as the ones who were said to have helped him along. She surmised that it shouldn't be terribly hard to spot someone that looked like Minato and that Anko would stand out in a crowd as they entered the tower. The busty blond and her entourage ignored all of the stares they got while they made their way up to Sarutobi's office when they ran into the Elder Council, who gave them the same shocked looks as they passed by, Tsunade walking up to the door and opening it.

"Excuse me Tsunade, but we were going in to speak with him first." Homura sniffed.

"Beat it. Your bullshit can wait." Was all Tsunade said as she shoved him aside and they walked inside.

"She will be a problem for us in the future and will bear watching." Danzou said, his lone eye narrowed.

"Agreed. We have too much at stake for her and that buffoon Jiraiya to make a mess of things." Koharu agreed as they walked away.

"Ah...Tsunade! Good of you to come back on such short notice." Sarutobi greeted her, but he was cut off.

"Where is he, old monkey? I want to see him and confirm that you're not pulling my chain." Tsunade replied in a clipped tone, making him wince.

"I...I'll send for him right away." He said, telling one of his Chuunin, Wakaba, to get him immeadiately.

"Do you want to know what happened to us just two clicks outside of the village? Two shinobi with Ne masks attacked us out of nowhere, saying that we were to be eliminated for the good of the village." Tsunade said, her tone deadly as she threw the bloodied masks on the desk.

"What happ...Danzou, damn him...I should have killed him years ago." Sarutobi cursed, banging his fist on his desk.

"That's right. But we can deal with him later, if you're not lying to me about Naruto." Tsunade said as they waited for him to come.

Back with Naruto and his friends, Hinata and Sakura were currently in the dressing rooms of a boutique when a Chuunin showed up next to them, huffing and out of breath.

"U-Uzumaki-san...Hokage...Talk to you...Really important..." Wakaba wheezed out as he plopped down in a waiting room chair and fanned himself. He had literally run everywhere trying to find him and ran himself ragged.

"Wha...? I wonder what's going on?" Naruto mused as he created a Kage Bunshin.

"Hey...uh...Hinata-chan? Sakura-chan? I got a summons from the old man, I need to go!" He called out to the girls behind the curtains.

"But...What about helping us carry all of this?" Sakura pouted slightly.

"I already made a few Kage Binshin to help you out, but I need to go!" Naruto said as he turned to the Chuunin who was ready to teleport them back, but Hinata poked her head out of the curtains, still not decent.

"Naruto-kun...I'll see you later then?" She asked him.

"Of course!" Naruto affirmed for her as she leaned out to get a kiss from him, but leaned too far out and ripped the curtain down on accident, revealing the...lack of clothing and a bra she had. Just as Naruto got an eyeful of Hinata's goodies, the shellshocked Genin was whisked away by the Chunnin to the Hokage's office.

"So...Got an eyeful, did you?" The Chuunin winked to the blushing blond, who nodded dumbly as Wakaba escorted him into the office.

"I've brought Uzumaki-san as requested, Hokage-sama." Wakaba stated as he whisked from the room and closed the door.

Naruto looked around the room to see three women all staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief on their faces, like the couldn't trust their eyes.

"O-Oi...Old man...Why are they staring at me like that?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto-kun...I'm afraid that we need to have a talk." He told the boy, scaring him slightly.

"H-Hey! I haven't pranked anybody for a while! I didn't do nuthin'!" Naruto declared, his arms crossed and chin jutted out defiantly.

"Just like Kushina..." Tsunade whispered, just loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"Eh? Who's Kushina and who are you guys, anyway?" Naruto asked, his head cocked to the side like a curious puppy.

"Old man...I'm gonna tell him about his mom at the very least. He should have been told already." Tsunade frowned.

"Y-you knew my mom?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Yeah...I not only knew her, but I was her Jounin sensei and a relative of hers...As well as your Godmother." Tsunade told the boy, who's look of shock was priceless.

"You...You're my Godmother? Like that wierd Sage guy, Jiraiya, is my Godfather?" He asked, making the women giggle slightly.

"Yes...That wierd Sage was one of my teammates when I was your age, and believe me when I tell you, he was just was wierd then as he is now." Tsunade joked with him.

"Really? I _have_ to hear this..." He laughed aloud as they began to joke around.

'_This is a good sign...He is bonding with her already...'_ Sarutobi thought.

_'Lady Tsunade seems much happier now that she has her godson in her life...' _Shizune mused with a smile.

_'I'm so happy that I finally get to meet Naruto-chan. Kushina-sensei's and Minato-sensei's baby...'_ Rin thought happily as she looked at the boy, who seemed to look just fine and healthy to the trained medic.

Tsunade hadn't laughed that hard in many years. Her heart was finally starting to heal after all of the heartbreaking losses she had incurred in life, but another thing remained to be explained.

"Old man...I never got around to asking about this, but why was I told that he was dead? This had better not have been your idea..." She growled. Naruto looked pretty interested in that information as well.

"Sadly, while it wasn't my idea, my indecision over taking over again allowed them to pull that heinous stunt. While the council was pushing for his demise and disposal, Danzou was trying to gain custody of the child to train him. I knew that it would be for Ne, but I could never prove it. I at least managed to avert both of those, but by the time I tried to find you, you were long gone." He informed her.

Naruto felt himself getting even angrier at the council for how badly they messed up his life. He could have had a real family since Tsunade would have taken him in in a heartbeat. Although, he _did_ meet Hinata, his girlfriend, and fall in love with her. He also met Ichigo, who had a massive role in turning his life around for the better. Anko-neechan, who saved his life and kept him from falling down a very dark path. The Ichiraku's, who kept him from dying of starvation when no one would sell him food. And finally, Sanae and Takeo, who were kind to him and gave him work and food.

"At least...I know that you didn't abandon me...Oba-san." He told her as he gave her a hug, which she returned as she picked him up and swung him around. The strong woman was actually crying due to how happy it made her that he accepted her. After Tsunade had calmed down, Rin and Shizune took the opportunity to introduce themselves.

"Naruto-chan...Your mom dated my sensei and she was like a mom to me, too, and I watched you being brought into this world. You can just call me Rin-onechan." Rin told him with a wide smile.

"Naruto-kun...I am your Godmother's student and assistant, Shizune. I have been wanting to meet you since I found out about you." Shizune told him with a kind smile.

Naruto responded in kind by tell them all about his life to this point, like his friends, his team and sensei...and about his girlfriend.

"You have a girlfriend? I have to meet her!" Shizune squealed, doing a little happy dance on the inside.

"Who is she, Naruto-chan?" Rin asked.

"Hinata Hyuuga." He replied with a little embarrassment.

"A _Hyuuga_? Wow! You really aim high, kiddo!" Tsunade ribbed.

"Well...I wanna get back to my teammate and Hinata-chan. They were using me as their personal pack mule before I was called here." Naruto said as he stretched out.

"Wait...I want to meet these people..." Tsunade told him as the office door opened to reveal two people. One was really tall shinobi with shaggy blond hair and the other was a kunoichi with purple hair and a trench coat.

"Yo...We got called in here. What's up?" Ichigo asked.

_'Holy...He looks just like Minato-gaki/san/sensei! and is that Anko-chan?'_ The three women thought at the same time as they looked at him.

"Hey, Ichigo-sensei, Anko-nee! Whatcha' doin' here?" Naruto asked curiously, to which the tall man ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Nothing major...I hope." He answered.

"Ichigo-kun, Anko-chan...Good timing! These three people have been wanting to meet the two of you and have something they want to say to you." Hiruzen stated as Tsunade drew close.

"Thank you...Both of you, for protecting my godson for me..." She said as she wrapped the two of them in a powerful hug.

"Eh...That's nice and all, but who are you again?" Ichigo asked while Anko looked shocked by the news.

"You mean...Lady Tsunade of the _Sannin_ is the gaki's godmother? I thought I was shocked enough when that pervy old goat Jiraiya turned out to be his godfather!" Anko exclaimed.

"Yeah...Tell me about it. I don't wanna have me and Hinata-chan wind up in one of his books..." Naruto grumbled.

"Um...Kiddo...Why don't you go track down Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan while we talk. I'll be home later and so will Haku." He told the boy.

"Alright!" He cheered as he turned to his newfound godparent.

"Hey Tsunade-obasan! I'll see you later right? For sure?" He asked.

"As sure as death and taxes, kiddo." She told him with a smile as he scampered off out the window.

"He never uses the door all that much...Just like someone else we all knew." Sarutobi reminded them.

"So...Sensei tells me that you two are an item?" Tsunade spoke up in a teaseing tone of voice.

"Yeah...Best damn decision I ever made!" Anko replied with gusto.

"So have you too...Sealed the deal?" She asked again, her grin and tone turning sly.

"Y-yeah..." Ichigo stammered out. He was a little embarrassed by confirming those details and apparently, so was Anko.

"I hope you two don't end up as material for one of his tasteless books." Rin said, but the looks of the couple in question said otherwise.

"A little late for us..." Ichigo fumed. He and Anko had already be victimized by his in his newest book : Icha Icha : Blast From the Past.

"He did, huh? I need to have a few words with that old lech..." Tsunade growled as she cracked her knuckles, but settled down to ask more questions, like how he became Team 7's sensei when Kakashi was supposed to be the sensei. He let Sarutobi explain that part while he filled in the blanks. By the end of it, Shizune was merely angry while Rin was livid with her ex-teammate, but Tsunade was a hair away from tracking him down and beating him into an unrecognizable pulp.

"How dare Kakashi do that to him...To Kushina-kaasan's son." Rin snarled.

"How dare he do that to _any_ child. He has fallen far..." Shizune scowled.

"Damn that sniviling little punk...and that Hayabusa brat for thinking he could just butt in. However...I am glad that you stood your ground against them." Tsunade commended.

As much that was revealed, one more secret remained to be so...One that only those directly involved with this situation or with the bloodline can know.

"Tsunade...There is one more thing that you should be made aware of, but I'm afraid that Rin and Shizune will need to leave the office for the time being." Sarutobi informed her, his visage one of complete seriousness, one even she wouldn't contest.

"Rin, Shizune. Go find us lodgings for the night and then find Naruto-chan. Once you do, stick with him." Tsunade instructed, the two young women obeying their Lady and marched out the door as she turned to face her sensei.

"Now...What is this secret that my apprentices aren't allowed to hear?" She asked, her arms crossed. Sarutobi looked over at the youger blond and nodded for him to begin.

"Now...This all started over 700 years old..." He said as he revealed his true origins to the Sannin. Normally, this is well beyond the normal realm of understanding, so of course she didn't believe him at first.

"What the hell was that? It was a good deal better than the crap Jiraiya writes, but there's no _way_ that could be true." She scoffed.

"Tsunade...Everything he said...was 100% true. I had Inoichi Yamanaka perform a mind dive on him when he appeared here, on top of this very tower inside of a crater in critical condition. I can assure you, that we are being quite truthful with you." Sarutobi replied, his facial expression devoid of any deception.

"You're kidding..." She gasped.

"No...We're not. I also ordered a full battery of tests done on his blood since he bears an incredible likeness to Minato and we wanted to check for any unknown relations. What we did find was completely astonishing and matched up to what you were just told. He really is one of the origins of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze bloodlines. From what we were able to ascertain, he had contact with three other people in the past, people that helped his...mate and himself escape captivity, that have living relatives living here in the village. A Yuuhi, a Hyuuga...and a Senju." He explained, making her eyes go wide.

"Then...He really is..." She stammered.

"Yeah...Over 700 years old and hailing from what you call the Pre-Sage Era. I wasn't lying to you. Naruto is my only living descendant, and the reason why I feel so compelled to help is because you are a descendant of Kyouhaku Senju, one of the three who helped Shiina and myself." Ichigo added.

"And he has a blood line that has been passed down, but had been dulled over the years and boiled down to powerful affinities for wind and water, which Naruto possesses. His affinity for them is very powerful." Sarutobi told the medic.

"Oh? Just what can this bloodline do?" She inquired with interest, to which the man in question demonstrated by first pulling water out of the air itself and playing with it, then using his wind to ruffle everything in the office and making her sake bottle explode from the inside, all of it without handseals of any kinds, just concentraition.

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" She asked in a daze.

"Yes. Total control over the two elements and I believe he can even use the Ice sub-element the same way." Sarutobi answered.

"Well...I haven't had time to experiment with it very much yet, but I can do it to an extent. Haku-chan's the real expert with Ice." Ichigo replied, freezing a ball of water into an ice block, again not using handseals.

"That's...Incredible!" Tsunade exclaimed as they continued to discuss other things.

_**OUT AND ABOUT THE VILLAGE**_

Rin and Shizune were out and about, looking around the village they hadn't seen in over 12 years, but saw few of the familiar faces they both knew from their younger years. Rin saw her friend Suzume from the Academy walk by her while Shizune saw a couple of her old classmates, but no one recognized them at all. As they searched high and low for the elusive jinchuuriki, they ran across an old haunt of Kushina's which was still standing and had two familiar faces, Ichiraku Ramen. The two decided to pop their heads in to say hello, but to their surprize, they found their elusive mark and two of his friends talking with their old friends.

"Oh, hey Rin-neechan, Shizune-neechan!" Naruto greeted happily as he was about to introduce them to his friends, but Teuchi and Ayame spoke first.

"No...You couldn't be..." Teuchi murmured as he looked at Rin like he'd seen a ghost.

"Yep! The rumors of my passing were greatly exaggerated, old man!" Rin chirped.

"Who is she dad?" Ayame asked. The woman looked familiar, but she just couldn't place a finger on her name.

"She was one of the Genin that came in with Kushina-san all the time! She even held you when you were small, Ayame! Rin, my dear girl! It's good to see you!" Teuchi replied happily, grasping her hand.

"THIS is little Ayame? She's such a pretty girl now!" Rin complimented, making her blush.

"Yep! She's 18 now!" Teuchi answered.

"Hey, Teuchi-jii...You know Rin-nee or something?" Naruto asked.

"Know her? Hell, boy! Your mother was easily my best customer next you and you order the EXACT thing she always does! She always dragged Rin-chan here along for the ride!" Teuchi said happily.

Naruto was glad that he had one more thing in common with his newly discovered mother, but his two companions had some questions.

"Naruto-kun? Who are they?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah...You seemed really familiar with them and they know who your mother was? I thought no one knew?" Sakura asked, to which Naruto explained everything he was allowed to explain, but that seemed to be enough.

"Tsunade of the Sannin is your _Godmother_? Holy crap, Naruto! That's incredible!" Sakura exclaimed.

"That really is a surprize, Naruto-kun." Hinata added.

"So...Who are your two pretty little girlfriends, Naruto-chan?" Rin asked, taking pleasure in the fact that all three Genin blush bright red.

"Naruto isn't my boyfriend! He's one of my best friends and my teammate! If you're looking for his girlfriend, she's sitting right next to you!" Sakura explained quickly, but still found it hard to fight down the blush at the idea being the knuckle head's girlfriend. The two women then remembered that he mentioned that his girlfriend was a Hyuuga, which left the dark haired girl sitting on the other side of them.

"So...YOU must be Hinata-chan then..." Rin stated with a smirk as she turned to Naruto.

"She's as real cutie, Naruto-chan. I can tell that she will be a real beauty when she's older." She whispered to him. Naruto gave that some serious thought and had to hide his slight nose bleed at the thought of a more mature Hinata with long hair in a slinky see-through nightie...

"What are you thinking of Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked innocently.

"Oh! Ah...Nothing really!" He said quickly, blushing heavily, making the older girls laugh heartily.

"I think Naruto-kun was thinking about the future, Hina-chan!" Shizune answered, further puzzling the young heiress.

Tabs were paid and Sakura and Hinata bid him farewell, but the two women stuck with him and followed him home. When they got there, they saw that some construction was still in progress, but it was actually quite good workmanship on the parts of the inhabitants. They then noticed that there were some feminine items around.

"You have a girl living here, as well?" Shizune asked.

"Yeah! Haku-neechan lives here too!" Naruto chirped as he explained the chain of events that brought Haku to live with them in Konoha as well as the fact that she was a rated Combat Medic, one of two in the whole village. She was also pleased with the fact that Ichigo seemed to live here too and that he took them both in to better protect them.

"Really? I'd like to meet her..." Rin mused aloud. Her request must have been heard, because the girl in question walked in the front door.

"Naruto? You home?" Haku called out.

"I'm in here and we have some company!" Naruto replied as the raven haired teen rounded the corner into the living room.

"How was your day at the spa with your friends?" Naruto asked.

"Oh...It was wonderful...Yuki and Konata treated us girls to a full day of pampering!" Haku gushed as she simmered down.

"How was shopping with the girls?" She asked him.

"Well...I know what a load bearing capacity _is_ now, if that explains anything." He replied with a chuckle, making Haku and the other ladies giggle.

"That was very gentlemanly of you, Naruto-chan." Rin giggled.

"Um...Excuse me, but who are you?" Haku asked the two ladies in the house.

"Oh! Pardon our manners...My name is Shizune and her name is Rin. We both came here with our mistress to search for her missing Godson and we found him...Naruto." Shizune explained, going over some of the finer points, like _who_ their mistress was.

"Tsunade? Of the Sannin? I thought the real shock was when that pervert Jiraiya turned out to be his Godfather!" Haku blurted out.

"Yeah...Finding out that anyone would trust that perverted old goat with with a child would shock anybody." Rin shrugged as they chatted on.

"So, tell me more about your team and friends, Naru-chan." Rin coaxed, trying to start up a conversation.

"I really like my team! Ichigo-sensei is really cool and he always tries to find a way to treat us all equally. Sakura-chan wasn't too nice at first, but the Wave mission made her see things differently and now she's one of my best friends. Ayane-chan comes from this really neat shinobi clan, the Tenshin clan and she's really nice to me, but sometimes she acts like Hinata-chan around me. Then, there's Ino-chan. She...told me that she really liked me for a while now, but since I'm dating Hinata-chan already, I had to turn her down. She's really pretty, so she'll find someone else in no time flat!" Naruto told them.

The older women in the room picked up on what Ayane's behaivor meant very quickly.

_'So...This Ayane has a crush on Naruto-kun, as well? Fu fu fu...You really are a little charmer, Naruto-kun.'_ Shizune thought slyly.

_'He's like Minato-sensei...He can attract girls just by being himself. Hinata-chan will really have her work cut out for her, just like Kushina-kaasan did. Hell, I wouldn't be surprized if that Sakura girl had feelings for him, too, if the way she blushed earlier was any indication.'_ Rin mused.

"Well, I'd love to meet this Ayane girl that seems so nice. It'd been nice to see Iroha and Hayate again after so long..." Rin mused aloud.

"You knew the Tenshin's?" Naruto asked, eyes wide.

"Know them? I went to the academy with Iroha." Rin replied as they continued talking for a while.

_**KONOHA STREETS**_

Ichigo, Anko, and Tsunade were walking down the streets, enroute to the house when they passed by a jewelers shop called Tamami-ya. He just happened to take a quick look at the window and saw that they were having a sale on engagement rings and bridal sets. That got him to thinking about all that he'd been through with Anko...and how serious he was along with Shiina telling him to be happy.

_'Hmm...I know I love her...I can't lie to myself about that and I've already been thinking about it for some time now. Let's check my wallet...Yep. I can swing it!'_ He thought as she fished out an excuse to send them ahead of him.

"Hey, um...I need to talk with the old man about something real quick. I won't be long, so just head on over to my place without me. I know for a fact that Naruto is already there by now." He explained as they simply nodded and kept going, but Tsunade saw him looking at the rings in the window and pieced it together from there.

_'So...He's really getting her a ring, eh? It's kind of sweet that he's serious about her and wants to show that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life. I'll just keep this little tidbit to myself.'_ The beautiful Sannin giggled mentally as they continued on their way.

He doublebacked to the shop and walked right in. The lady at the counter was an older woman, in her mid forties with glasses. She saw him come in and start to look around.

"Are you looking for anything in particular, young man?" She asked, a knowing grin on her face.

"Yeah...I'm looking for something in either white gold or sterling silver with an Opal or Tourmaline set in it." He requested.

"So...Planning on popping the big question to your girl?" She asked him knowingly.

"Y-yeah...I've been with her for only a few months, but I know she's the one." He blushingly admitted.

"Aw...That's so sweet. And you even know her birthstone, too. I know that she will be a very happy young woman. I happen to have just what you're looking for in silver." She told him as she walked back to the main display case and picked up a small box. The ring was simple, but beautiful. The band itself had an intertwined design to it, with a bright Opal set in it. He then looked at the price tag and grimaced.

_'Still...You only get married once if you do it right...'_ He reasoned as he fished out the amount needed, which was all he had. The woman noticed his flinch and that he was literally emptying out his wallet for it.

_'Such a sweet gesture...It wouldn't hurt to help out a bit. True love is always a worthy cause.'_ She thought as she rung it up...at a considerable mark down. He noticed that it was much cheaper than advertised, but she beat him to it.

"It's a special offer, dear. Love like yours is rare enough." She explained with a wink as she put it into a special box for him.

"Actually...I have a better idea..." He stopped her. Before he went home tonight, he would stop by a friend's flower shop and get her birth flower, a bright pink Cosmos, and wrap it around the ring. He wanted to have her stay the night at his place and get up before her. During that, he'd make her some breakfast in bed and include it with the breakfast for her to find.

"I know it sounds corny..." He began to justify, but she stopped him.

"That sounds so sweet...Just remember me when you two do tie the knot. I want to provide the wedding rings!" The woman cackled with glee as she sent him on his way.

"Such a sweet young man...Isn't he, dear?" She said to a picture on the mantle behind her, of her late husband.

Upon arrival at the Yamanaka flower shop, which was getting ready to close for the night, he ran into Ino and Akari.

"Ichigo-kun...What brings you here?" The elder blond woman asked, to which he told her of his plan. She nearly squealed in joy on the spot with Ino sighing.

"That sounds romantic..." The younger blond sighed longingly, her head resting in her arms on the counter top. She couldn't help but think of a particular blond that she wouldn't have minded that from.

"That sounds like what my Inoichi-kun did when he proposed to me!" She squealed as she ran into the back and got the flower he requested. She came back in a flash.

"Tell me how it goes tomorrow!" She told him excitedly as she sent him on his way.

"Man...I feel jealous of Anko-san. I wish I was older or Naruto-kun was still single." Ino confided in her mother.

"I know, Ino-chan. You'll find a boy out there like that. All you have to do is look for him with an open mind and heart." She told her daughter as the finished closing up for the night.

_**UZUMAKI COMPLEX**_

It took a little while, but he made it home quickly and not too far behind Anko and Tsunade, who were sitting in the recently finished and expanded common area chattering away. Poor Naruto looked lost with so many women talking back and forth when any red blooded male would have donated a few vital organs and peel some flesh off with a potato peeler just to be in the same room with these beautiful kunoichi. When he walked into the door, he motioned for Naruto to come over.

"Listen, I need you to act like this is for Hinata." He told him in a conspiratorial manner as he handed him the flower.

"What for?" He asked, puzzled. He whispered the answer into his ear and had to put a hand over his mouth to keep him from blurting it out.

"You're gonna marry Anko-neechan? Awesome!" Naruto cheered silently.

"Yeah...I am. I know I wanna spend the rest of my life with her, have kids with her, and grow old with her." He confided in his student/roomate.

"Hey...At least let me be in the wedding as a groomsman." Naruto requested.

"Done. Just keep this between us and keep the flower in a vase in your room until I come for it in the morning, capiche?" He asked.

"Got it, sensei." Naruto replied as he fetched a cup of water to keep it in and sure enough, he was asked where he got. Naruto answered with the appropriate amount of shyness when he told them that it was for his _Hinata-hime_. The question was dropped there and then, so he made his appearance into the room.

"Ah...There you are. What did the old man want to talk with you about, koi?" Anko asked.

"Oh...It was just about some Chuunin Exam stuff, nothing major." He replied naturally.

"Oh yeah...I'm supposed to be running the Second Exam this time around. Heh heh...Those gaki's are gonna piss themselves when I through." She chuckled deviously.

"Say, um, Anko-hime? What do you say to spending the night here since it's kinda late and...well...I miss you." He told her, baiting his surprize while getting some badly craved affection out of it.

"That sounds like a good idea, koi." Anko replied huskily as she was about to leave back to her apartment to get some spare clothes...and underwear.

_'I have a feeling I'm gonna need it tonight...Heh heh...'_ She thought wickedly as she darted off to gather some things.

"Now that she's out of the house for a few moments and I know that Lady Tsunade already guessed, this is what kept me back." He told the quickly as he pulled out the ring.

The females all gushed over it and thought that his plan was really sweet.

"That really is a pretty ring you got her, kid. And you did good by getting her birthstone and birth flower." Tsunade told him as she clapped him on the shoulder.

"I think we should call it a night, ladies. We should let them...heh heh...get comfortable." She added as she pulled her apprentices out the door and down to their hotel. They would only be staying there until she could clean out the old Senju estate. Once she did that, she would be exercising her rights to legal guardianship and having Naruto move in with her and Haku too if she wanted. As they were leaving, Anko walked back in with a small dufflebag, setting it down in his room.

"Hey...Let's go finish our date first. Never really did get to have a drink with you." Anko suggested as she pulled him to his feet.

"Yeah...That sounds good." He replied as they headed out the door turning to Naruto and Haku.

"We'll be out for a little bit." He told them.

"Okay. See ya, sensei, Anko-nee." Naruto said.

"Have a good time Oji-san, Anko-san." Haku added as the pair walked out.

"So...What's the run down on your day, Haku-nee?" Naruto asked.

"Well...It was a really good day, for the most part..." She started, but Naruto stopped her.

"Whoa...Wait a sec...I thought you said that nothing went wrong." Naruto grilled.

"I...didn't want Ichigo-oji to worry about me. He seemed to have a lot on his mind tonight and now I know why. He wants to ask Anko-san to marry him. I already have a gut feeling she will say yes, but I'm still pulling for him." She explained.

"You still haven't told me what happened. C'mon, Haku-nee...You can tell me." He replied to her.

"You see...Just after we got done at the spa and on our way to eat, some jackass and his friends spilled out of a bar and started harrassing us. Miki got groped while they wouldn't leave me alone. Before I could chase them off, another jackass showed up...Ryu." She said, her teeth clenched.

"What did _he_ want?" Naruto growled, his eyes narrowed.

"He showed up and tried to pull the _"Knight-in-shining-Armor"_ routine. I'm just glad the girls all saw the match like I did and weren't too pleased to see him. That didn't really stop him from bugging me, saying that I should have shown him the proper gratitude for saving us from the _ruffians_ like he did. I told him to drop dead." Haku answered simply.

"Nice! What happened after that?" Naruto asked, fully engrossed by the story.

"He didn't really get it at first, but a few dozen Ice senbon thrown at him and an ANBU asking what was wrong seemed to get our message across. He left us alone, but not without a creepy stare before he left. Still, the rest of the day was perfect after that." Hake answered him with a smile as she turned the subject matter back onto him.

"Since I told about mine, maybe you could go into detail about yours?" She inquired, a delicate brow raised.

Well...Okay. Fair enough. Here's how it started off. I was playing with Konohamaru and his friends when Hina-chan, her sister, and Sakura-chan came up and asked/told me to go shopping with them. Moegi wanted to go with them, Udon bailed, but I made sure Kono couldn't, so Moegi and Hanabi used him as their pack mule like I was. Man...That Hanabi can be a real slave driver and Moegi's no slouch. I'm just glad I had the Kage Bunshin to drop things off for them like a freaking delivery service." Naruto shuddered, but his face turned serious, something Haku's watchful eyes caught.

"Something else happened, am I right?" Haku asked calmly, to which he nodded to the affirmative.

"Yeah...Just after Moegi, Hanabi and Kono left, it was just Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan and myself as we continued on. After stopping for lunch, we ran into that dick, Kiba." Naruto snarled.

"_Him_ again..." Haku scowled.

"Yeah...That cocky bastard just strutted right up and hit on Hinata-chan right in front of me. He tried to drag her off, but when he turned around and before I could drop the stuff in my arms, her and Sakura-chan both slugged him dead in the face! Man...That was priceless!" Naruto chortled before he continued.

"Anyway, the combo punch threw him back across the street when his sister showed up. She asked us if we had seen him, since she was looking for him. He was skipping out on the Academy and her mom asked her to track him down a drag him back home so she could...punish him. I think they put some kind of obedience collar on him so that if they want to, they could reign him in." Naruto explained.

"At least _he's_ been taken care of and out of our hair. I swear, I'm almost scared to know what his damage is." Haku scoffed.

The two quickly got themselves into bed, tuckered out from the full days they had and to rest up for the next day.

_**SOYOKAZE NINJA BAR**_

Anko and Ichigo wandered on down to one of their favorite haunts and plopped down at the bar to finish up their date. After getting a few drinks a piece, Ichigo left for the bathroom. While inside, he quickly created a Kage Bunshin.

"Go back to the house and get the ring and the flower. Signal me with a small breeze and I'll distract her somehow." He instructed the clone, who nodded and headed off to perform his assigned task while he made his re-appearance.

As soon as he did, more people walked in, like Tsunade and her entourage along with Asuma and Kurenai. Tsunade's appearance in the bar made quite a stir among the shinobi, since many hadn't seen her for over a decade, but they kept to themselves mostly. They spotted the couple at the bar, so they moved on in to join them.

"So you came here to finish out that date, eh?" Tsunade called out as she sat down.

"Remember Lady Tsunade...Please keep it to a minimum!" Shizune pleaded.

"Yeah! I still remember the last bar you got crazy in on the way back here!" Rin added with a shudder.

"Hey! If I remember correctly, _you_ two are just as guilty as me!" Tsunade countered.

_**FLASHBACK...**_

_On their way back to Konoha, the trio of kunoichi stopped off in a town to the northwest to get a room for the night. Upon checking in, Tsunade decided that she wanted to go for a drink, her two normally sober students following her lead this time around, under the pretense of damage control._

_The three of them started to knock them back like pros, many of the locals shellshocked that these three pretty ladies could handle their liquor._

_"Keep 'em comin', pops!" Shizune yelled in her hazed state._

_"You tell 'im, Zune-chan!" Rin cheered half-drunkenly as she downed another shot._

_"You two are such lightweights..." Tsunade groused, chugging down her third bottle._

_Their antics were bound to attract attention and it did...In the form of three local Yakuza made men who were looking for some"Fun". They saw the trio of beauties getting lit at the bar and decided to make their moves. Their leader walked up to them first and introduced himself, putting on a seedy grin._

_"Hey there...I'm..."He started but Rin cut him off._

_"Beat it! We're busy!" Rin yelled at him, her pink-tinged face in a hazed growl._

_"Hey now...There's no need for that! We're just trying to be friendly!" He tried to smooth things over, hanging on Tsunade's shoulder. What he failed to realize was that he unwittingly triggered a timebomb that was going to go off in his face any moment now as she started to shake and jerk. However, no one ever said that Yakuza thugs were particularly intelligent or perceptive, so of course he misunderstood her shuddering._

_"I'm not gonna hurt you, pretty lady...Unless you want me to." He told her in what he thought was a suave, sensual voice. The rest of his pick up lines were cut short as she gripped his head like one would a Baseball, lifting him off of the ground._

_"I didn't say that you could touch me, let alone talk to me, did I?" She snarled at him._

_"H-Hey! I'm sorry! Owowowowowowowowow!" He tried to apologize as she began to apply pressure._

_"BEAT IT, YOU LOSERS! BEFORE I LOSE MY TEMPER!" The blond Sannin snarled as she hurled him out of the bar like she was playing Dunk the Clown._

_"Yeah! You tell 'em, Lady Tsunade!" Shizune cheered._

_"Kick their asses!" Rin added._

_"Boss!" The two others cried out as they turned to the three women._

_"You bitches are gonna pay for that!" One of the others yelled as he pulled out a tanto, many of the other patrons of the bar getting up, revealing that the bar was chock full of the Yakuza. Almost as one, they charged in like lambs to the slaughter._

_"Oh yeah...Bring it on!" Rin bellowed with a crazy grin that would have made Kushina proud as the three of them laid waste to the local mob and wiped them out...along with the bar and half of the block in their drunken rampage._

_**FLASHBACK END!**_

"Eh...heh heh..." Rin laughed sheepishly as Shizune's face burned with embarrassment.

"I can't believe we did that...Now we can't even go near that town again..." Shizune muttered.

"I was so proud of you girls! Now, maybe you'll quit nagging me for drinking so much!" Tsunade told them as she cheerfully knocked back a bottle.

"Whoa! You two _do_ have a wild side!" Anko ribbed them.

"I'll say...Reminds me of a mission Anko and I went on a year or so ago." Kurenai added.

"Oh yeah...That jerk couldn't take no for an answer or his hands to himself, so I crammed his own hands up his ass and booted him out the door!" Anko told them with a happy and nostalgic grin. Just the thought of that made all of the males within hearing cringe and groan, a few actually getting up to leave.

"Trust me...I rememeber that." Kurenai replied in a dead pan voice.

"Oh...Don't be like that, Kure-chan! I know for a fact that you've done your fair share of damage. What about the time Kakashi hit on you and _accidentally _groped you, then you cast that Genjutsu on him? He couldn't even look at you for a month without running away and screaming in terror! That's something to be proud of!" Anko chirped gleefully as she gave her long time friend a hug.

"Yeah...I felt pretty good after that..." Kurenai muttered thoughtfully while Ichigo felt the gust of wind. Anko was already distracted, so he slipped out and back in before she knew what was going on and slipped the flower with the ring on it into her sake bottle.

However...It didn't _quite_ go as planned. You see, she reached for the bottle without even looking, nearly shoving a flower up her nose in the process of getting her drink.

"Ah! Pfeh! Blech! What the hell?" She yelled as she looked at what she nearly impaled her face on to see her favorite flower _**(But do NOT, for the love of God, call her on it in public...)**_ with a ring attached to it, her boyfriend trying..._trying_ to look innocent. She took another good long look at the ring.

_'Holy shit...Is this...? It is! He's asking me to...?'_ She floundered in her mind, the concept of what he was trying to ask her blowing some fuses. She quickly calmed down and put up a witty grin.

"Icchan? Are you...Trying to ask me something?" She asked.

She completely ruined what he wanted to pull on her and turned it around on him!

_'How the HELL did she do that?'_ He whined inwardly as he floundered for a change.

"Well...I...um...Wanted to ask you...If you wanted to marry me...But, if you don't _want_ to..." He stammered and blundered around until she grabbed his head and laid one on him, riding him to the ground with a make out kiss to end them all.

"Is that a yes?" He gasped.

"Of course it is, you big dork!" She laughed as she kissed him again, the restaurant bursting into wild cheers as he slipped the ring on her finger. The rest of the patrons didn't really care _who_ was getting married, but it was always a happy occasion when a shinobi/kunoichi couple wanted to tie the knot. Tsunade stood up with a wide grin on her face.

"Well...It seems I have another reason to stay here...After all, you two will be making some Grandbabaies for me." She told them as she hugged them both, but it puzzled them.

"Grandchildren?" Anko asked.

"But...We're not even related to you, Lady Tsunade!" Ichigo added.

"I beg to differ on that point. I'm taking in Naruto-chan, and both of you _are_ related to me in a way and you're _way_ younger than me. _Let's face it. I'm old enough to be your mother, so why not?_" Tsunade told them while she was in close. Normally, she'd have a conniption about her real age, but she'd softened, only slightly. She had been wanting some children to spoil since she and Dan were dating. But when he died, she thought she'd never have the kind of happiness known as children or even grandchildren. Now, she was presented with the opportunity and she wasn't going to ignore it. He was an orphan like Haku and Naruto, so she might as well take all three, with Anko marrying into the family.

"On top of that, I feel like I owe it to you for looking after the gaki for so long. Anko-chan, would you let me help with the wedding?" The beautiful Sannin asked.

Anko couldn't keep up her tough girl facade any longer as the dam burst. She was so happy, she could cry and she wasn't going to hold it in any longer as she hugged the legendary kunoichi tightly.

"Thank you...Lady Tsunade." She thanked her, but Tsunade reminded her of something.

"You're marrying him, so you get to call me something else, young lady." Tsunade playfully reminded her.

"Right...Mom..." She corrected herself as Rin, Shizune, Kurenai and every other female in the bar bum rushed her to get a look at her ring.

"It's such a pretty ring..." Kurenai commented, looking at Asuma with a grin.

"I know...I wanna get married now!" Suzume, an Academy instructor with glasses, whined. A few other instructors turned away quickly with a blush.

"You know...It makes me want to find a guy, myself." Shizune said aloud, looking at Iruka out of the corner of her eye.

"I know...But who else is out there?" Rin replied with a question of her own as she downed a bit of sake. Her question was answered by the last person she wanted to ever see again...

"Rin? Is that you?" A familiar voice called out from the bar's entrance. She looked over and felt her rage flash boil.

"You bastard..." She snarled as she shuddered in rage.

"What? But...I thought the demon killed you!" He stammered.

"Wrong, asshole! You had the nerve...The GALL...to blame my disappearance on a child?" She yelled, almost screeching as Shizune had to hold her back.

"But...I missed you...Why do you hate me so much? I didn't do anything to hurt you!" Kakashi asked.

"What? You don't honestly expect me to believe that you did nothing wrong, do you?" Rin asked dangerously.

"What could I have possibly done?" He asked again. She then grabbed him by his vest and slammed his face down on the bar top, leaning in to his ear.

"You _betrayed_ sensei...You betrayed Kushina-kaasan and their _son_. I should _kill_ you for that." She hissed as Tsunade pulled him up by the scruff.

"You have some nerve, Hatake." She told him in a low, angry tone.

"L-Lady Tsunade!" He gasped in surprize.

"Yeah...Me. I'm not real impressed with the job you did guarding my Godson, you little shit. You're lucky that my other Godson picked up your slack, or I'd turn you into compost right now." She growled as she popped her knuckles loudly.

"Naruto was...Your Godson?" He asked, panic and fear in his tone. He had done these awful things to her godchildren. Ichigo turned out to be her other godchild, which would explain why the Sandaime seemed well aquainted with him. He was about to grovel for mercy and forgiveness, but she simply threw him out of the bar like a shotput.

"Beat it! Any apologies are _years_ too late for the shit you pulled!" She added as they left him there to think about it. He reluctantly pulled himself up and thought about what the hell just happened. He tried to think about it rationally.

_'Rin's alive...He didn't kill her...She left with Lady Tsunade and Naruto is Lady Tsunade's Godchild along with that Suzumiya...Wait...Rin said their son. Kushina-san was his mother then that...means...Oh no...What have I done? How can I face sensei when I openly betrayed his son?'_ Kakashi thought as he put the pieces together. He turned to head to Naruto's apartment.

_'I have to talk to him...I need to talk with him...'_ He thought desperately as he bolted off to see the blond boy.

Ichigo and Asuma were ready to get involved, but the ladies proved that they could easily handle themselves as the tension in the air disappated and things went back to the way they were until it was time to go. He walked up to Tsunade and asked to speak with her.

"Hey...Thanks...For what you said. It meant a lot to her." Ichigo confided in Tsunade, who whacked him on the back of the head lightly.

"Silly boy...You may be _older_ than me, but not in experience. I'm taking all three of you in and that's final. You can keep you names, but I consider you as my children from here on out. That means that she will technically be my daughter-in-law." Tsunade smirked.

"Thanks Lady...*Smack*...Ow!" He whined as she cuffed him while she tutted him.

"I adopted you, you lunkhead. You know what to call me." She chuckled. He grinned a bit as well.

"Yeah...Mom..." He replied, giving her a strong hug. It felt wierd to Tsunade at first since he was so much taller than her, but calling her that. She was rather short for an adult, around 5' 4", but he was around 6' 4", a whole foot taller than her. She had to stretch to bop him.

"I've got more people to tell about this, but that can wait till tomorrow. G'night..." He yawned as he took off towards his apartment after Anko, Tsunade and her two girls running along to their hotel for the night.

_**UZUMAKI/SUZUMIYA APARTMENT COMPLEX**_

Naruto and Haku were just getting ready to call it a night after a light dinner when they heard a knocking at the door.

"Don't worry, Nee-chan...I got it." Naruto yawned out as he moved over to the front door to open it.

"Yeah? Whaddya' want..._You._" Naruto began to greet, but once he saw who it was, it ended in a snarl. The sound of it made Haku come running.

"Naruto-kun, what's...What do _you_ want here, Hatake?"

_A/N: Another chapter down. I've had a rough time coming up with ideas and inspirations for these fics, along with the time to actually type them up. I've also just been let go from a contracting job for falling ill. Bastards...Lucky I didn't get vindictive and trash the place...Oh well. Fuck 'em. They had an ass backwards way of doing things, anyway._

_Back to the matter at hand...Tsunade's back and she ain't happy. Rin met with Kakashi after all these years and lit his ass up like a christmas tree soaked in kerosene, and Shizune was a hare away from doing that herself. However...Tsunade knows the truth about Naruto's decsendant and has taken them in herself. Kinda odd, since one is 16 and the other is 24...But she's over 50, so who cares? It's Fanfiction. A little bending of canon here and there is a must. Also, wedding bells, anyone? Anko and Ichigo will be tying the knot in the near future, but how will Anko's "Competition" take this news? Not too well, I'd imagine. Also, in regards to Danzou's little stunt with those Ne...Things can't be that easily traced. Look at OUR government and how mnay things our politicians get away with on a daily...DAILY basis? However, I grew up with this saying..."Give someone enough slack, and they will eventually hang themselves with it."_


	19. Chapter 19

_Hello again, readers. It's been quite a while, but I finally updated. Remember back when I promised a cameo appearance? Well...Here you go, and Hinata and Ayane just got even more competition! It'll be interesting!_

_**UZUMAKI / SUZUMIYA APARTMENT COMPLEX**_

"What do _you_ want, Hatake?" Haku snarled, her expression promising her full, icy wrath should his answer be unsatisfactory.

"I...I want to talk to Naruto." He stammered out.

"I don't wanna talk. Beat it, I'm tryin' to sleep." Naruto growled out as he slammed the door in the Copy-nin's face...Only for Hatake to stay there at the door, continuing to plead with him from the other side of the door.

_"Naruto! Please! Give me another chance as your sensei! I'm begging you! I'll do it right this time...I swear! "_ The Copy-nin begged. His incessant pleading was starting to wear their patience to a razors edge. He flung the door open and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him wildly.

"SHUT UP! YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE AND YOU FUCKING BLEW IT! YOU SUCKED UP TO THAT SPOILED ASSHAT SASUKE AND EVEN TAUGHT HIM THAT CRAZY LIGHTNING MOVE THAT ALMOST KILLED ME! YOU TRIED TO TAKE HINATA-CHAN AWAY FROM ME! YOU TRIED TO MAKE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL, SO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Naruto bellowed in his face as he slammed the door in his face once again.

Kakashi stayed at the door, dumbstruck by the fact that Naruto had completely shut him out of his life forever. Any chance he had at salvation and being able to face his beloved sensei and his father in the afterlife were now and forever beyond his reach. The masked Jonin just stood there, completely numb and never noticed who walked up behind him.

"HATAKE!" A pair of angry voices yelled at him, the Ki being aimed at him getting his attention.

"What the hell are you doing here? What were you trying to do to him?" Anko bellowed.

"I...I was...just..." He stuttered, but was cut off by a hard right cross to his face by Ichigo.

"You bastard...Haven't you done enough damage to us? To _my_ students?" Ichigo snarled.

"I was trying to apologize to him!" Kakashi cried out, trying to defend his actions.

"You only want to apologize because of who his old man is, you shallow prick! If _he_ wasn't his old man, you wouldn't even care!" Anko bit back at him, making him shrink back and walk away.

"Don't ever come back, Hatake...Or else." Ichigo warned, firing off a quick water bullet that put a deep hole in the stone wall next to his head, leaving the rest to Hatake's imagination as they walked inside.

"Yo! Naruto, Haku! You two alright?" Ichigo called out.

"Eh? Sensei! I'm glad you're back, and Anko-nee too!" Naruto called out from a window, unlocking the door to allow them in.

As they walked inside, Haku noticed a peculiar ring adorning Anko's right ring finger and gasped.

"Is that what I think it is?" She asked.

"It ain't a goiter, a boil or a cyst, so I guess it is." Anko replied jokingly as the pair got settled in for the night and put up their privacy wards and seals _**(Generously supplied by...Oh, okay coerced out of... Jiraiya...)**_. Haku and Naruto both shrugged and fell asleep the second their heads hit their pillows.

_**'So...Ichigo-kun and his mate finally claimed each other, huh? The future looks like it will be very interesting...'**_ The Kitsune giggled deviously.

"So...Up for another round of Midnight Olympics?" Ichigo asked his new fiancee in a husky tone.

"You're damn right I am...Aiming for a Gold medal again." She replied with the most naughty tone she had as the pair...Let nature take over. _**(As stated in an earlier chapter...If you can't figure out what's going on, track down a naughty skin mag and put two and two together...Damn...)**_

_**THE NEXT MORNING...**_

The sun rose over the Hokage Monument like it always did. People hauled themselves out of bed and got on with their lives and business. The newly returned denizens of Konoha were no different in that regard, well two out of three of them. Tsunade was a strong drinker, but it was always the hair of the dog that got her. Rin and Shizune never really seemed to get hangovers.

_'Lucky brats...'_ Tsunade grumbled as she rose from bed and popped a couple of pain reliever pills.

She could then hear her two charges talking next door about what to do for the day, Shizune suggesting that they hire a Genin team to help them clean out the old Senju manor so they wouldn't have to be sleeping in hotels all the time, Rin agreeing with her. Tsunade splashed some water on her face to wake herself up a little more, got dressed and headed out to face the world, firstly her apprentices.

"That actually sounds like a good idea. C'mon, let's head over to the mission office after we get something to eat." Tsunade stated as they checked out of their rooms and got a start on their days.

_**AT THE SAME TIME...**_

_**UZUMAKI/SUZUMIYA APARTMENTS**_

"Mmmnn...Last night was a _damn_ good night." Anko sighed, clinging to her brand new fiancee after a...particularly active night.

"Yeah...I'm all excited about our wedding night now, hime." He teased her, goosing her as he sat up to take a shower.

"Hey...Whatever happened to ladies first, bucko?" Anko asked jokingly as she managed to vye with him for shower time.

"No reason we can't _share_ the shower, can we?" Ichigo replied.

"That's something I can grow to like." She replied as they gave a small encore of last nights activities in the shower. The two then got dressed up and out in the dining area to see Haku and Naruto already up and dressed.

"How'd things go last night Anko-nee?" Naruto asked, a familiar impish grin on her pretty face.

"You'll have to grow up a bit to hear about that, kiddo." She teased as she pinched his cheek and grabbed a cup of coffee before she headed to the T & I office. Ichigo walked up to her and kissed her.

"Have a good day making life hell for prisoners." He chuckled as she left.

"Oji-san...Shouldn't you and Naruto-kun get going?" Haku inquired, looking at the clock.

"Oh crap...You're right. C'mon, Naruto!" He called out, gulping down the last of his coffee and gasping slightly due to the heat. Naruto shoved some rice down his throat and raced after him, leaving Haku behind in the house.

"Well...Damn." She muttered.

She guessed that she shouldn't have opened her mouth. She was hoping that Naruto or Ichigo would stick around to help with the dishes. She sighed and made a pair of Mizu Bunshin to help her with the dishes before she went on shift.

_**TEAM 7 BRIDGE**_

Ichigo had snagged all of his students in a hurry and rushed out to the bridge that served as their meeting place. Ayane was still half-sleep, as was Sakura, but she was fairing a little better after a quick breakfast.

"*Yawn* What's the schedule for the day, Ichigo-sensei?" Ayane yawned out as she stretched.

"Well...I was thinking about some light exercises and a D-Rank to warm up, then see where the day takes us. How's that?" He asked his team, met with a smattering of light approval as they got started on their exercises.

As they did so, Ayane and Sakura noticed the new ring on his finger, looking to each other for the answer.

_"Hey...What's up with the ring?" _Sakura asked.

_"I dunno...Let's ask him."_ Ayane replied as they changed exercises.

"Hey sensei...What's with the ring? Something good happen last night?" Ayane asked, a sly grin on her face.

"Heh...Yep! As of last night, Anko is my fiancee! I asked her to marry me and she said yes!" He replied to her question, making the two kunoichi of Team 7 nearly shriek with glee until he got them to settle down.

"Alright...Let's go out and get that D-Rank." He instructed, the team following.

_**HOKAGE TOWER**_

Team 7 had just walked into the office when they saw Tsunade and her entourage getting ready to fill out a mission request form. She saw them walk up and smiled.

"Talk about timing...C'mon. I don't really feel like doing paperwork." She remarked, walking up to them. She smiled widely when she saw Naruto and ruffled his hair.

"Tsunade-obasan! You have something for us?" Naruto asked excitedly, making her and her students chuckle.

"Tsunade of the Sannin is Naruto-kun's Aunt?" Ayane nearly yelled.

"Nope, but close enough. I'm his Godmother. That old pervert Jiraiya is his Godfather, believe it or not." Tsunade replied with a smirk.

_'So much Obito...It's almost like he was reincarnated in him.'_ Rin thought sadly.

_'Naruto-_kun_, huh? Another pretty one that fell head over heels for the brat. That charm he inheirited from Minato-gaki claims another victim.'_ Tsunade thought inwardly with a laugh.

"Yeah...We do have a little job for you and your team, Naru-chan. Head 'em up, Icchan. Follow us." She said, making the two Genin kunoichi wonder where that came from, but giggled at the deadpan look on their sensei's face.

"Anko told you that one, didn't she." He said, not really asking, but confirming.

"Oh yeah...The future Missus told me that and then some..._Besides, she told me that you've really got some stamina._" She teased with a wink, making the tall man turn flamingo pink with utter mortification. This time, the Chuunin working the desk got a few chuckles in to his dismay as she led them out of the Tower and to the old Senju Estate.

_**SENJU ESTATE**_

"Wow...This place is pretty old." Sakura commented.

"Yeah...My sister Kasumi and I used to dare each other to go in there." Ayane whispered.

"Kami's sake...It's not a haunted house! I grew up in there!" Tsunade shot back in an exasperated tone.

"Could've fooled me..." Naruto muttered under his breath as they went inside only to see that it wasn't as bad as they thought.

"Huh...Not bad at all..." Ichigo murmured as they all set to work on general cleaning, re-arranging, repair _**(Something the boys were REALLY good at.)**_, and helping them get settled in.

After a trip to the store for Shizune, she offered to cook up a good lunch for them as part of their reward for the mission. Shizune was a really good cook, according to Rin, so they had something to look forward to. She made them beef and vegetable stir fry with a side of fried rice and Gyouza. Even the two bottomless pit stomachs of the male members of Team 7 were stuffed to the brim from the woman's expert cooking. Ayane was timid about eating all of this food, concerned about her waist line, but Sakura, with some backing from the elder women, told her that they would work it all off with training anyway, so she dug right into her rice and Gyouza, especially after hearing from Tsunade that a healthy appetite with good exercise can help her boobs grow. An image of her future self having a rack like Tsunade's was all the motivation she needed.

"Oof...I think were going to have to work this off." Ichigo said, groaning to get up from his chair.

"C'mon, team...Let's go walk this off. Thanks for the meal!" He called out and thanked them, but Tsunade halted Naruto and himself at the door.

"Are we forgetting something?" She asked, a delicate eyebrow raised. Naruto snapped right to it and gave her a crushing hug, but Ichigo was sluggish.

"Bye...mom." He said, clearly embarrassed.

"Bye, boys! And you too, girls!" She called after them, laughing at the tall blond's embarrassment.

Sakura and Ayane were still having a good laugh at his expense when a Chuunin from the Mission Office spotted them and ran up to them.

"Hokage-sama needs to see Team 7 in his office right away!" She informed them.

"What's so urgent?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know, but get going...Stud." She replied stifling a few chuckles as he snapped up his students and teleported them to the old man's office.

_**HOKAGE'S OFFICE**_

Team 7 walked into the Hokage's office a few minutes after they got the summons, still needing to walk off the hearty lunch Shizune laid on them. Upon entering the tower, they noticed that there was an awful lot of press and news people gathered there. Kotetsu and Izumo were there trying to enact crowd control, but they looked as if they had been mauled several times over. Upon reaching the office, there was a middle aged woman in a business suit waiting for them them, as well.

"Team 7 reporting, Hokage-sama." Ichigo saluted, as was standard proceedure. The woman stepped forward and inspected him, making him wonder what the hell was going on.

"Hmm...He seems strong enough. I combination with his excellent service record and recent accounts of his ability to teach and fight, I'd say he'll do. Now, on to the students." She commented, writing on a clipboard as she inspected the students.

"The boy is short, but according to accounts of his performance in the field, he is adequate enough. Now...Sakura Haruno...Earlier accounts of her performance were pitiful, but in the past 2 months, she has shown massive improvment. Ayane Tenshin...From the presitgious Tenshin Clan and sister to Hayate Tenshin...She has the skills to back up her lineage. All in all...I approve of this team." She concluded, adjusting her horn rimmed glasses as she turned to the Hokage, who nodded.

"Mind letting us in on the joke, Hokage-sama? What's with the circus downstairs?" Ichigo asked.

"Hmm, right. On to business. Miss Ninomiya here is the manager of a famous pop idol, Kanon Nakogawa. She came to us just an hour ago, requesting the services of one of our Genin teams to assist in her training until she will perform before the Chuunin Exam Finals. I recommended your team for this job, but she needed to see you for herself." Sarutobi informed them, the girl in question walking into the room.

The girls were a little confused as to why such a famous idol was going to be training with them while Naruto and Ichigo were just plain lost. Naruto never really paid attention to any other celebrity other than Yukie Fujikaze, or Fuun-hime from her roles, and Ichigo wasn't really from there at all.

Kanon was a girl the same age as the Team 7 Genin. She had short pink hair with a yellow bow in back, wore glasses and for her shinobi clothing, she wore a yukata top with a skirt, with mesh leggings that went down to her lower thigh and mesh sleeves that ended with protectors for the backs of her hands.

"Hi! My name is Kanon Nakogawa and I look forward to working with you!" The perky idol greeted them in a chipper voice as the girls began to chat with her. Kanon looked over at the lone male student of the team, who was standing with the sensei, with a bit of interest.

"Pardon me, but what's your name?" She aked politely.

"Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to me you, Kanon-chan!" Naruto greeted her like he did with most people and gave her that mega-watt grin.

"Oh my...It's very nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san!" She replied.

"Bah...Just call me plain old Naruto! Everybody else does!" He corrected her goodnaturedly. No one saw it, but there was a faint blush on her cheeks.

_'He's kinda cute and really nice...'_ She thought as Naruto's charm claimed it's next victim.

_**'Oh ho...This little vixen likes him, too...This will prove to be VERY interesting...'**_Saki giggled within her seal, eager to watch events unfold.

"So...What rank is this mission and what rank missions can we take? I'm gearing them up for the Chuunin Exams, you know." Ichigo inquired. he was getting a little annoyed with the camreas that were surrounding them. He didn't want them getting in the way.

"Ah...This will be an ongoing B-Rank mission and you can take up to C-Ranks, but nothing too dangerous." Sarutobi informed his Jounin, who nodded.

"Got it. I'll take 'em out and do the standard intros at our regular place." Ichigo stated as he gathered all of the Genin around him.

"Ready? Hold on." He instructed them, more to Kanon as a shell of water enveloped them, swirled like a tornado, and vanished. He didn't want to wade through the throng of papparazzi that Kanon had attracted.

"Oh my...That was certainly impressive." The manager commented.

"Yes...He is without a doubt an S-Rank shinobi and a top rate teacher. He really worked wonders with that team." Sarutobi replied.

"Oh? What was the team like before?" She asked.

"Well...I nearly fired one of my Jounin for mucking things up with favortism and almost relieved Sasuke Uchiha of his shinobi duties. They used to be part of Team 7, but Ichigo stepped in and fixed the damage that had been done. Since then, they are the best team in the class." Sarutobi told her.

"I see...I now know that Kanon is in good hands." She said, adjusting her glasses as she left the office to go to her hotel room.

_**TEAM 7 BRIDGE**_

In a blast of water, Team 7 plus one arrived at the bridge. Kanon had never travelled like that before, so she was a little disoriented.

"That should take them a while to catch up." He muttered.

"Wow...It was like falling, but forward..." She commented in a light daze.

"Yeah...It was like that my first time, too. It's kinda fun, now." Ayane told her as he turned to face them.

"Alright, now what we'll do for now is introduce ourselves and see what kind of moves Miss Nakogawa is packing." Ichigo stated, sitting on the railing.

"To get the ball rolling, I'll start. I am Ichigo Suzumiya, age 24, Jounin, ex-ANBU Captain, and my birthday is August 25th. My likes are my fiancee Anko, good food, friends, training, and protecting all who are precious to me. My dislikes are rude, arrogant people who think everything should just be handed to them based on their name or status, ignorant people who prosecute the innocent, and outright cruelty. I guess just starting a family and settling down is my ultimate goal." Ichigo told them. Sakura, Ayane, and Naruto did theirs and it was finally Kanon's turn.

"Oh...My name is Kanon Nakogawa and I became an idol and a Genin around the same time. My uncle is from Konoha and I was in last year's graduating class. My birthday is Feburary 14th. My likes are singing, dancing, taking long baths, and my fans!" She cheered as the cameras showed up again, but a warning glare from Ichigo made them keep their distance.

"My dislikes are being lonely, being ignored, and mean people. My goal and dream is to be the top idol throughout the Elemental Nations!" She cheered once again, more camera flashes going off and reporters chattering in the background, along with some die hard fans shouting at the top of their lungs.

Ichigo sighed in resignation as he stood up.

"Okay. Here is how things usually run on my team. We start every morning coming to the training grounds together and we discuss what we do for the day on the way. Then, we always start with stretches and exercises to get loose and warm up. Then, Nin and Genjutsu practice and some sparring with me and each other. Since this day is already half over, we'll just see what Miss Nakogawa can do with Taijutsu alone against...Sakura. First to one knee wins." He instructed, Sakura taking up her position as instructed. Kanon looked apprihensive.

"C'mon...It's only sparring. At least you're not facing sensei or Naruto...Yet." Ayane encouraged in her own way.

"How is that so bad?" Kanon asked.

"Naruto is easily the best of us with Taijutsu and he has much more strength than us, plus he can keep going for hours and not get tired. Sensei is a no-brainer, anyone with a functional brain is afraid to face him." Ayane explained, making her feel _much _better about facing Sakura.

The match began, Kanon having a firm grounding in the basic style of the Academy, but Sakura had the benifit of having an extra style and experience to season her. The Idol put up a decent fight, but she was finally taken down when she missed a punch and Sakura juked under her guard, landing an open palm strike to her solar plexus. The fanboys were ready to tear Sakura apart, but a blast of wind that gouged the ground in front of them nearly made them piss themselves.

"Match! Good fight you two. Now...I see that you have a firm grasp of Academy Basic. Have you learned anything else since you graduated?" The tall sensei asked.

"Er...Not really...My manager wanted me to concentrate on my singing and dancing." Kanon admitted in a weak voice.

"Okay...First on the list, disabuse you of the thought that Academy Basic will cut it in the real world. Now...I will leave a Kage Bunshin to train the others while I work with you." He stated, making the clone and giving it orders.

"Spar with them, but no "Dodge or Die" this time, got it?" He instructed, the clone sulking but nodding. Kanon was natually curious.

"Dodge or Die? What's that?" She asked, almost afraid to know.

"Oh, you'll find out eventually. Now...Let's see you perform a quick kata so I can see how you move. Don't worry about anything else and move in a way that feels natural to you." He instructed.

Kanon nodded hesitantly and she moved through the kata like she normally would. Ichigo noticed that she was willowy, kind of like Hinata and almost as flexible.

_'Probably because she dances...Dancers are very limber. Hmmm...Let's see here, her legs are very strong, as expected of a dancer, but her upper body isn't as strong, so Capoeira is out...I could get away with teaching her Tae Kwon Do with Kasumi, since she has the same problem and the same build. I could build up the upper bodies at the same time to match the style, since it calls for upper body strength, as well. I need to talk with Kurenai about another cross-training day, but their on a mission right now. I can ask Anko to help since she hates being cooped up in her office and likes my team. Some shock and awe never hurt anyone...Much.'_ Ichigo surmised as he had her stop.

"Okay...I can see something that would work for you and it would complement how you move. However, we will need to wait until tomorrow to really do anything." He told her as he whistled loudly to get his teams attention.

"Okay! Now, I want to see how well she can work with a team. I'll be the one you face, so don't hold back and come at me with everything you have...You'll need it." He told them, a crazy grin making itself known. The regular Genin all paled as they knew what was about to happen.

"Oh come on..." Naruto whined.

"Dodge or Die..." Sakura sighed as she got ready to run for her life, Ayane nodding as she did the same.

"What?" Was all Kanon could sputter out as she saw her sensei for a month do the impossible.

He pulled water out of the air without even moving and began to take pot shots at everyone, herself included. She was incensed to move when a bullet grazed her arm. After that, she dodged like her life depended on it, because it nearly did. After a few moments, Team 7 went on the offensive, teaming up against him with careful teamwork and trying to include Kanon on their plans. She was able to contribute to the effort by sending Bunshin to distract him for a split second while they attacked him with whatever Ninjutsu they knew since she knew none outside of the three basics. What she saw was nothing short of amazing. He actually caught the wind and water elementals and completely nullified the lightning Ayane used.

"What...Is he?" The Idol asked.

"He's...Just Ichigo-sensei, that's all." Ayane explained simply. It was just a fact to her, sensei was sensei. He treated them very well, taught them fairly and that was all that mattered.

"Okay...Training is over for the day. Tomorrow, we will evaluate Miss Nakogawa's control and her Genjutsu. That's all, so let's head on home." Ichigo instructed. The other Genin all set off to go home, but his newest charge turned to the cameras.

"Hi! I hope you all continue to cheer on Kanon-chan as she endures her ninja training! Bye bye!" She chirped as she skipped back to her lodgings, the media circus following her like they were sugically fused to her.

"Kanon...Wait a minute." Ichigo called out in a semi-stern voice. She turned and wondered what she did wrong, her fanboys getting rabid.

"Y-yes, sensei?" She asked timidly.

"I hope I'll only have to say this once, so please listen to me. The media...All of these reporters and tabloid fooder around here are a distraction. I caught you looking at them every so often during your bout with Sakura and she beat easily because of it. The next time, it could cost you dearly. It you could, please tell them to stay away while we are training and on missions. We _will_ be doing C-Rank missions that will involve us leaving the safety of Konoha, so we need you to have your head in the game, as it were. I'm not saying this to single you out or to be mean and cruel. It's just my job as a sensei a to ensure that all of my students perform to the best of the abilities and I take it very seriously." He told the young Genin/Idol.

"O-okay sensei. I'll do that." She replied in a depressed tone.

You see, she has a hidden quirk in her psyche that causes her to demand attention. She was a lonely girl growing up and no one really paid attention to her. She felt as if she didn't exist for a time. However, once she became a Genin and a producer overheard her singing one day and gave her a contract, she was surrounded by all of this adoration and attention, but she still had no friends. Just rabid fans and scoop hungry reports. Ever her manager was very strict about everything she did, controlling almost every thing she did down the minute. Now, she was put on a Genin team as a sort of publicity stunt since she had the basis ninja training, something that was sure to be quite a chore.

However, she was finally interacting with people her age again and her sensei was only interested in making sure she knew what she was doing so that she could protect herself out there. He was even going to teach her a new taijutsu style personally to help her along, along with calling in a couple favors to help her with the rest. Sure, he looked _very_ intimidating with being so tall, having well defined muscle with tattoos and a visible weapon, but also what he could really do, but he only had her best interests at heart.

She would be the first to admit that her skills were not only lacking, but also rusty, since so much of her time had been devoted to her Idol career. Her teammates were treating her as if she were just another Genin kunoichi, including her in on their teamwork and not trying to baby her, or just gain her favor like so many others. Finally, she came to the lone male Genin, Naruto. Just the way he treated her like a normal girl put him leagues ahead of any other boy she'd ever known, on top of trying to make her feel welcome on the team. Then came the fact that he wanted her to just call him plain Naruto, since he wasn't one for honorifics, but she had one in mind for him anyway.

_'Naruto-kun...I hope to get to know you a little more...'_ The Idol thought with a audible giggle as she skipped back to her lodgings for the night.

_**IDOL TRAINING, DAY 2...**_

Team 7 plus guest arrived at their training ground after a small series of misadventures with Kanon's...Adoring public. She'd honestly tried to get them to leave her alone while she was on this team, but even her publist was calling in every major news agency in the Elementals to get her face out there more. On top of that, even more of her fanboys had shown up the previous night and were now at the lobby of the hotel.

_**FLASHBACK...**_

_ Team 7 arrived at the hotel to pick her up like they always did with each other only to hit a literal wall of people in the lobby._

_ "What the hell is this?" Ichigo nearly yelled as the cameras focused on them now, microphones and cameras being shoved in their faces._

_ "How does it feel to have the honor of teaching Miss Nakogawa?"_

_ "Do you feel insecure in anyway due to her fame?"_

_ "Why was she subjected to such a brutal lesson on her first day?"_

_ "Do you kids feel intimidated by her stardom?"_

_ These endless, pointless questions were being thrown at them at a rapid pace and he could see that his students were getting very upset, so he stepped in._

_ "Alright...Everyone, clear out! Get lost! We have official shinobi duties to perform and I WILL throw you to the T & I Department should you impede our progress any further! This...Circus will stop here and now!" Ichigo bellowed, his Ki rising to sufficating levels for civilians. Many of them ran, but a few stubborn fanboys stuck it out._

_ "I don't have time for this...Kids, you know what to do." He told his Genin, who all gained positively evil grins at being given the go ahead to wreck these losers._

_ Leaving his Genin to have their fun, he walked up to the room and knocked._

_ "Go away! I don't want to do another interview!" Kanon yelled from inside._

_ "It's me, your sensei. I'm here to pick you up for training and so is the rest of the team." Ichigo replied, trying to coax her from the room._

_ "What happened to the reporters?" She asked him._

_ "Well...We took care of them and let's leave it at that." He responded quickly as he gathered them up._

_ "I know none of us have eaten yet, but have you? If not, we can all go out and eat together at Ichiraku's, my treat." Ichigo informed them._

_ "Actually, I haven't yet." She replied._

_ "Good! Gather 'round, my little ninjalings..." He called out jokingly as they did so, Sakura snorting a bit at his choice of words._

_ "Ninjalings? Really, sensei?" She replied, holding back a laugh._

_ "C'mon...Just go with it." He deadpanned as he whisked them all way to the stand._

_ With a flash of water, Team 7 appeared in front of the ramen stand that had become a team tradition with them, even Ayane liking this simple stand. She also liked talking with Ayame, the owner's daughter and surrogate big sis to the object of her affections. During these conversations, she was able to gain more insight as to what made Naruto tick. Teuchi Ichiraku, the owner and longtime family friend, noticed the burst of chakra that hailed their arrival, being a former shinobi himself. _

_ Little known to many of today's generation, Teuchi Ichiraku was widely known and nearly as feared as the Yondaime himself during the latter part of the Second Shinobi War and the entirity of the Third Shinobi War. He was also once in the Bingo Books with flee on sight orders for anyone under ANBU Level. He was the main reason why the stand was one of the safest places in the village for the growing jinchuuriki._

_ "Oi! Nice to see you guys! I just boiled up a fresh batch of noodles!" Teuchi called out and having the take a seat while Ayame got their orders, noticing a new person._

_ "Oh? Who is this? A new student?" The young woman asked._

_ "Oh...She's a temporary student for a month. Ayame...meet Kanon Nakogawa." He introduced, purposfully leaving out that she was an idol to see what would happen. As he thought would happen, Ayame greeted her as she would any new friend or customer._

_ "Oh...Well then, I'm Ayame Ichiraku and in the back is my father Teuchi Ichiraku. This is our family's diner. As a special occasion, Kanon-chan eats for free this time around. So...What'll you have?" She inquired._

_ Kanon was blown away by the fact that she wasn't famous with these people, but they still treated her kindly. Her loneliness complex hadn't manifested since she joined this Genin team and the people so far had been pleasant. Her first normal meal in a long time was greatly enjoyed since she was usually eating very refined fare. Her publicist and her manager wouldn't let her be seen eating anything less._

_ The team continued to eat their breakfast in peace until the papparazzi that had been hounding them before made another attempt at finding them for another scoop when a passerby got a good look at Kanon and recognised her._

_ "Kanon-chan! It's Kanon-chan!" A fan yelled out, pointing right at her and getting the attention of the media._

_ "Miss Nakogawa! A few questions, please!"_

_ "Look over here!"_

_ "Can I get an autograph?" _

_ It was like a feeding frenzy with all of the photographers, news hounds, and fans swarming the stand. Kanon now had a panicked look on her face and it was highly noticeable to all present. Ichigo looked a Teuchi and gave him a subtle nod, Teuchi pulling down on a string and metal shutters slammed down, sealing off the shop._

_ "Now...Why were you so panicked?" Ichigo asked._

_ "It...Miss Ninomiya will get mad at me if she knew I was eating this." The girl answered him with a scared stutter._

_ "Eerrgghh...C'mon! Let's get those cameras!" Naruto yelled, Sakura and Ayane nodding as theywent through the back and began to swipe the cameras, destroying them on the spot._

_ "Hey! C'mon, kid! It's just my job!" One guy complained, but the blond jinchuuriki wouldn't have any of it._

_ "Do it somewhere else! I don't really care if she's some famous Idol or whatever. She's on our team, and that makes her one of us!" Naruto shouted at them, using a miniscule amount of his Bijuu chakra to change his eyes and scare them off. _

_ This tactic worked like a charm, since he was slowly getting better at utilizing Saki's chakra. Sakura knew about Naruto's status, Ayane had a feeling about it, but wanted him to tell her himself, but Kanon had never heard of a Jinchuuriki and this was the first time she had ever felt a presense like this._

_ "H-how did Naruto-kun do that? Was it one of those Kekkei Genkai that I've heard about?" Kanon asked, a little unnerved by the display. However, doing this in her defense won him some major points in her book._

_ 'You just became even more interesting, Naruto-kun.' She thought._

_ "Err...Yeah. Something like that." Ichigo answered quickly as they left for the training fields._

_**END...**_

Yeah...Day two was shaping up to be just as interesting as day one. After they stretched out and did their exercises, Ichigo was about to make a clone to supervise sparring for his other students when Anko made herself known.

"Heya, brats!" Anko chirped, greeting Team 7 as she walked up to her fiancee.

"Hey Anko-chan... Day off?" Ichigo asked as he swept her up and kissed her.

"Yeah...Got all of my pre-lim stuff done, so it's in Ibiki's hands now." She replied, Naruto piping up.

"'Sup, Anko-nee!" Naruto greeted.

"The sky, squirt..." She shot back cheekily, winking at him to let him know she was joking.

"Is she really his sister?" Kanon asked.

"No...Not by blood, anyway. Anko-sensei looked out for Naruto when he was little and he just came to call her that. She really likes him and dotes on him when she thinks nobody's watching." Sakura answered, being one of the few people that were in the know.

"Then...What is she to sensei? Why call her sensei, too?" She asked again.

"As of a couple of nights ago, they're engaged. I'm happy for her, to tell the truth. He's a good guy, she's kinda cool...They just click. As sor the sensei part, she will sometimes come around a give us kunoichi a few pointers. Like I said, she's a unique person and I like her, because she's got spunk." Ayane replied, Kanon nodding thoughtfully, willing to give the strange kunoichi a chance.

"Ahh...So _this_ is the Idol whatever that the old man saddled you with." Anko called out as she saw Kanon. The Snake Mistress then circled the young Idol, eyeing her critically.

"Hmm...You look fit, but missing a shinobi's training for while, haven' ya?" Anko commented, Kanon blushing slightly in embarrassment. She turned to her husband to be.

"Hey Icchan...How about I work with her on what she needs for today while you supervise the others?" Anko suggested.

"Not a bad idea...I was going to test her Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, along with her control and her element." Ichigo informed her, handing her the chakra paper for elemental testing.

"Got it." Anko replied as they took to their tasks.

"Okay, kiddo...Take this. It's chakra paper and it will tell you your elemental affinity, so we know what type of jutsu you're suited for." Anko said, instructing her on how to use it. Kanon followed her instructions and the paper got soggy.

"Hmmm...Looks like you're a Suiton user, like me. That means I can teach you that much easier, girlie!" Anko told her with the same wide grin as the boy she was interested in. She then began to test out her control and any Genjutsu she knew, which was nil save for the Henge. Her control was actually quite good for her age and chakra levels.

"Mid-Genin reserves and Low-Chuunin control...Not bad. You might actually have some talent." Anko commented as they got down to functions with her training.

Training for her with Anko of all people actually wasn't too bad...Save for Anko having her snake summons crawl all over her when she was trying to concentrate on water walking. The whole thing was about Kanon's fear of snakes. Now, for someone like Anko, that wouldn't fly, so she sought to rectify that little fear and teach her a new control exercise at the same time. It took an hour or so for her to get the hang of it, but she eventually got it down. The real problem was when the media that had been hounding her all day found them again and surrounded the small lake they were training at. She tolerated their presense...For all of five seconds before she sent out more of her snakes to chase them away, which she was very thankful for.

Finally, after six straight hours of training, it was time to go home for the day. Kanon had completely worn herself out and was out like a light.

"Meh...She did alright for a Genin. At least she doesn't fear snakes anymore!" Anko chirped as she switched gears.

"So...Wanna get something to drink after this?" She asked.

"Read my mind...Let's go drop off our impressionable little minds." He replied, Sakura and Ayane smirking despite how tired they were and Naruto knew what they were up to, but was hungry and wondering what Haku was going to make for dinner.

_**ONE MONTH LATER...**_

A month had already come and gone. The starlette Genin had performed well with the team when they went on various C-ranks, where nothing adverse happened. A few bandit attacks here and there, but nothing even remotely close to the nightmare the Wave Mission had been. Training had gone well, Ayane learning a new Lightning jutsu called the _**RAISEN**_, Sakura learning a new Water jutsu, the _**SUITAIHOU**_, and Naruto refining all that he had learned to a sharper edge, including in wielding his Kodachi effectivly from Ichigo himself. All in all Team 7 was as ready as they would ever be for the Chuunin Exams, even though Kanon wouldn't be partaking in it.

This month also had it's low points, like when the pink haired Idol ran into Konoha's dog-like pervert and walking hormone, Kiba. She was just walking around Konoha to find the outfitter Ichigo told her about when he spotted her, slinking his way over to her...

_**SMALL FLASHBACK**_

_Kiba spotted her from across the street and slunk his way over to where she was standing, looking around. _

_ "Hey...What's a pretty thing like you doing around here?" He asked, his voice as greasy as his grin. Something about him set off red flags in her head, so she tried to get rid of him._

_ "Excuse me...But I'm busy right now." She replied as she spotted the sign for the shop and was about to walk inside when Kiba got physical, grabbing her arm to keep her from leaving._

_ "Don't be like that...How about I take you on a date? A pretty girl like you should be with a handsome guy like me." Kiba told her, not taking no for an answer._

_ "Let me go! Creep!" She yelled, getting some attention and making him angry._

_ "C'mere!" He snarled as he dragged her into an alleyway behind the outfitters._

_ "I'll show you to talk back to me!" She snarled again, raising his arm when she caught his fist and slammed him into the wall face first._

_ Kiba moaned in pain as she stomped off, but grabbed her again, this time twisting her arms so she couldn't hit him._

_ "Like it rough, huh? Oh yeah...I'm gonna like this..." He breathed and was about to start pulling off clothes until a blur punched him straight in the jaw, breaking it and dislodging him. As he writhed in pain on the round, he looked up to see a VERY angry whiskered blond standing over him._

_ "What the HELL, Kiba? You couldn't have Hinata or Ino, so you thought you'd just take what ever you want, right? Didn't you learn from the last time I kicked your ass? Or when you tried to rape Hinata-chan and Ino-chan and sensei nearly killed you?" Naruto roared, raining down blow after blow, knocking Kiba into unconsciousness._

_ As luck would have it, Hana Inuzuka was out looking for Kiba, who was skipping class at the Academy again. She looked into the alleyway to look for Kiba and saw that Naruto had taken him down._

_ "Thank you, Naruto-san. I've been chasing him for over an hour, but what happened here?" She asked._

_ "Kanon-chan here is a temporary teammate, for one, and Kiba-teme tried to force himself on her here in the alley." Naruto spat out, his tone scathing. Kanon backed him up by confirming everything that was said, making Hana sigh in disgust._

_ "Stupid little runt...Mom's gonna kill him." She muttered in disgust as she grabbed him by a collar around his neck and dragged him off._

_ "Stupid mutt..." Naruto grumbled as he turned to Kanon._

_ "You alright?" He asked, to which she threw herself at him with a crushing embrace._

_ "I was scared!" She cried into his shoulder, Naruto sighing._

_ "C'mon...I take you back after you finish up here." He told her, wihch made her brighten up almost instantly._

_**END...**_

From there, the young starlette formally began her crush on her temporary teammate. Now, one would be wondering where his girlfriend is during all of this, wouldn't they? Well, she's been on a mission to patrol the Fire/Water Border with her team for the past month and they are just now getting back, just two days before the Chuunin Exams and Kurenai entered them. Since Kanon was doing a good job of keeping her crush under wraps, no one really knew about it. Not even Sakura or Ayane saw it, but that wasn't surprizing since she was also a budding actress, due to co-star alongside Yukie Fujikaze in one of her Fuun-hime movies. No...The only ones that saw it coming wanted to see what would happen, those two being Anko and Ichigo.

Now, we find ourselves on the eve of the Chuunin Exams with a weary Team 8 trudging through the gates to report on their assignment. Kasumi was looking forward to a good, long soak in the furo at her house and catching up on her sister's progress on gaining her crush's heart. Hinata was wanting to see her boyfriend again after so long, but it wouldn't do to be seen as she was in her current state, so she would have to freshen up quite a bit before she went to see him. Shino was just glad to be home again after all of those hair-raising days on the border. Kurenai was pleased with her teams performance out there and fully intended to enter them into the Chuunin Exams.

_**HYUUGA MANOR**_

Hinata made her way into the inner compound to greet her father and announce that she had returned from a successful mission.

"Ahh...Good. Continue your hard work." He told her with a pleased grin as he sent her on her way, knowing that she was wanting to clean up and see her beloved after a month of being apart.

_'Ha ha...I remember the first time I came back after a long mission and her mother was waiting for me...That was a nice feeling.'_ The Hyuuga Head remembered as she sipped his tea in comfortable peace and quiet.

After a few minutes, she was clean and out the door to see her beloved. Neji and Hanabi both shook their heads with a chuckle as they watched her disappear around a corner.

"I wonder if I should have told her about that new girl on Naruto-san's team?" Neji pondered aloud.

"What new girl?" Hanabi asked, getting clued in by her elder cousin.

"Really? Wow! I wanna get her autograph!" Hanabi squealed.

"But...There's a problem. Nakogawa-san seems to have a small crush on Naruto-san. If Hinata-chan finds out...Things could get ugly." Neji replied.

"Uh oh..." Hanabi muttered as they went back inside.

_**TRAINING GROUND #7**_

Training with Team 7 was just about over when the pale eyed heiress got there, just in time to call out to him.

"Naruto-kun! I'm back!" Hinata called out excitedly as she ran up and kissed him soundly.

"Hey Hime!" He replied, reciprocating with equal vigor.

Ayane could only smolder with a small scowl at the display, but Kanon was shellshocked.

_'B-but...I...He...Taken?'_ Was all her blitzkrieg'd mind could manage, her soul seemingly leaving her body. Hinata noticed Ayane's reaction and that was normal, but the new girl...Her's was strange.

"Excuse me? Are you new here?" Hinata asked, taking the diplomatic approach. Kanon quickly regained her composure.

"O-oh! Yes...I am! My name is Kanon Nakogawa! How do you do?" Kanon answered politely. The girls all held small talk while Ichigo was ironing something out with Naruto, something about dinner tonight and him grabbing a grocery list and shopping for Haku.

"Well...Ichigo-sensei has been a wonderful teacher to me over the past month. Through him, I learned more than I did in the Academy." Kanon answered.

"The Academy? When did you go?" Hinata asked, not rememberign any other pink haired girl there except for Sakura.

"Oh, I was in last year's class." Kanon answered, setting off a light with Ayane, both her and her twin Kasumi having graduated out of that class.

"You sure? I don't remember you from class...Who was the Rookie of the Year and the Dead Last?" Ayane quizzed her.

"Oh...Lee-san was the dead last, but Neji Hyuuga was the Rookie of the Year for my class." Kanon replied.

"Oookay...I still don't remember you from class...Maybe my sister does. This has been bothering me for a while now." Ayane pondered.

"Your sister...Isn't her name Kasumi?" Kanon asked.

"Yeah...I think do remember you now...People almost thought you were a ghost." Ayane commented, making a tick mark appear on Kanon.

"You don't say..." She muttered, but Hinata changed the subject.

"What do you think of the team you worked with?" Hinata asked. Sakura and Ayane were keen to listen in on this one.

"Well...I liked it a lot. I learned a lot of new things from Ichigo-sensei and Anko-sensei, Sakura-chan and Ayane-chan were really nice to me, but...Naruto-san...He did something for me that no one else ever did. He saved me from a pervert named...Kaien, Kibble..." She replied, fishing for the name at the end, but all three girls dead panned.

"_**Kiba**_." Was the shared replied. While their revulsion for the former Inuzuka heir ran pretty deep, they noticed something in her tone as she spoke about the whiskered blond and all three girls recognised it right away.

_'Oh HELL no...'_ Ayane and Hinata both thought at the same time. Ino was out of the way, but now this girl shows up and falls head over heels for him, as well.

_ 'Oh crap...This is going to get ugly...'_ Sakura sighed. When they graduated, if someone told her that Naruto would be the hot ticket boy to nab, she would have suggested they get a strait jacket and have them committed.

_ A/N : I finally got around to writing another chapter for this fic. I remembered my promise for a cameo, didn't I? For those who couldn't remember her, Kanon-chan is from The World God Only Knows anime. _

_ I got the idea from another author, who did a brilliant crossover between TWGOK and Naruto...FanofFanfics21 is the author's name and the name of the fic was called "Return of the Capturing God". I suggest reading it. It's a funny read and I greatly enjoyed it!_


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